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@ -5,33 +5,267 @@ tags:
- UnitedKingdom
- Intelligence
- Counterintelligence
- CambridgeFive
- SpycatcherAffair
- WilsonPlot
- Massiter
- KincoraBoysHome
- Stakeknife
- OperationKenova
- InvestigatoryPowersTribunal
- CovertHumanIntelligenceSources
- Mitrokhin
- Gladio
- PIE
summary: "MI5 (the Security Service) is the United Kingdom's domestic counterintelligence and security agency, founded 1909; it appears in this vault through its Cold War counterintelligence operations against KGB penetrations of British institutions, the Spycatcher affair involving former MI5 officer Peter Wright, its relationship to the Pedophile Information Exchange (PIE) network, and its roles in the surveillance and monitoring of political organizations."
- IICSA
aliases:
- MI-5
- MI 5
- Security Service
- The Security Service
- Security Service (MI5)
- Military Intelligence, Section 5
- Home Section
summary: "MI5, the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic security agency, whose record runs from the Cambridge Five and the Wilson plot allegations through Massiter, Kincora, Stakeknife and the Third Direction ruling."
created: 2026-05-15
updated: 2026-05-15
updated: 2026-10-14
location: "London, United Kingdom"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Roger Hollis]]"
reverse: true
start: 1956
end: 1965
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Stella Rimington]]"
reverse: true
start: 1992
end: 1996
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Antony Duff]]"
reverse: true
start: 1985
fn: 13
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Anthony Blunt]]"
reverse: true
start: 1940
end: 1945
fn: 6
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Cathy Massiter]]"
reverse: true
fn: 18
- type: investigated
with: "[[Louis Dolivet]]"
start: 1935
end: 1959
fn: 9
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Peter Wright]]"
reverse: true
fn: 10
- type: investigated
with: "[[Operation Kenova]]"
reverse: true
fn: 32
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Home Office]]"
fn: 2
---
MI5, formally the Security Service, is the [[United Kingdom]]'s domestic counterintelligence and security intelligence agency, responsible for protecting the UK from threats including espionage, terrorism, and sabotage. Founded in 1909 as the Home Section of the Secret Service Bureau, MI5 operates under the authority of the Home Secretary and is distinct from [[MI6]] (the [[Secret Intelligence Service]]), which handles foreign intelligence. MI5 is headquartered at Thames House on Millbank, London. Its Director General reports to the Home Secretary; notable Directors General have included Roger Hollis (1956-1965) and Stella Rimington (1992-1996, the first woman in the role and the first Director General whose name was publicly acknowledged).[^1]
MI5, formally the Security Service, is the [[United Kingdom]]'s domestic security and counterintelligence agency. It was founded in 1909 as the Home Section of the Secret Service Bureau, operates under the authority of the Home Secretary, and is headquartered at Thames House on Millbank, London. Its Director General reports to the Home Secretary. Notable Directors General have included [[Roger Hollis]] (1956-1965) and [[Stella Rimington]] (1992-1996, the first woman in the role and the first Director General whose name was publicly acknowledged).[^1] The service is distinct from [[MI6]] (the [[Secret Intelligence Service]]), which handles foreign intelligence. Its public record ranges from Cold War penetration cases and the Wilson plot allegations through Northern Ireland agent-running to the disclosure disputes of the 2020s.
### Cold War Counterintelligence
### Statutory remit
MI5's primary Cold War mission was counterintelligence against [[KGB]] operations in the [[United Kingdom]]. This included monitoring Soviet intelligence officers operating under diplomatic cover at the Soviet Embassy, running double agents against the KGB, and investigating penetrations of British institutions. The Cambridge Five spy ring - Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt, and John Cairncross, all Soviet agents recruited while at Cambridge in the 1930s - represented the most damaging penetration of British intelligence and government. Blunt served as MI5's Director of Analysis during World War II while passing intelligence to Moscow; he was identified by MI5 in 1964 and given immunity from prosecution in exchange for a confession, with his role kept secret until Prime Minister Thatcher confirmed it in Parliament in 1979.
The [[Security Service Act 1989]] placed the service on a statutory footing, in the words "There shall continue to be a Security Service." Its function is "the protection of national security" and, in particular, its protection against threats from espionage, terrorism and sabotage, from the activities of agents of foreign powers and from actions intended to overthrow or undermine parliamentary democracy by political, industrial or violent means.[^2] The Act also gives the service a function of safeguarding the economic well-being of the United Kingdom against threats posed by persons outside the British Islands, and a function of supporting police forces and other law enforcement agencies in the prevention and detection of serious crime.[^2] The serious crime function was added by the [[Security Service Act 1996]].[^3]
The internal debate about whether Roger Hollis himself was a Soviet agent - investigated inconclusively by MI5 during the 1970s - demonstrated the organizational paranoia and institutional damage that resulted from the Cambridge Five penetration. The Hollis suspicion was never proven.[^2]
Before 1989 the service was governed by the royal prerogative and, from September 24, 1952, by a directive from the Home Secretary, Sir [[David Maxwell Fyfe]], to the Director General. The directive described the service as "part of the defence forces of the country," with a task of "the defence of the realm as a whole, from external and internal dangers arising from attempts at espionage and sabotage, or from actions of persons and organisations whether directed from within or without the country, which may be judged to be subversive of the state." It was kept secret until after the [[Profumo affair]] of 1963, and counter-terrorism was added to the service's functions in 1972.[^4] Introducing the Security Service Bill in the [[House of Commons]] on December 15, 1988, the Home Secretary, [[Douglas Hurd]], said that the directive, published in [[Lord Denning]]'s report, continued to apply and that the Bill would turn its language into a statutory requirement.[^5]
### Peter Wright and the Spycatcher Affair
### Cold War counterintelligence
Peter Wright, a former MI5 officer and Assistant Director, wrote a memoir (*Spycatcher*, 1987) that the [[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]] government sought to suppress through court injunctions in [[Australia]] and elsewhere. The book made various allegations about MI5's conduct - including claims that MI5 officers had plotted against Harold Wilson's Labour government in the 1970s, believing Wilson to be a Soviet agent - and disclosed classified technical intelligence methods. The government's failed attempts to suppress the book, which became a bestseller, became a significant civil liberties controversy; the European Court of Human Rights subsequently ruled that the UK injunctions violated freedom of expression.[^1]
MI5's primary Cold War mission was counterintelligence against [[KGB]] operations in the United Kingdom. This included monitoring Soviet intelligence officers operating under diplomatic cover at the Soviet Embassy, running double agents against the KGB, and investigating penetrations of British institutions. The [[Cambridge Five]] spy ring of [[Kim Philby]], [[Donald Maclean]], [[Guy Burgess]], [[Anthony Blunt]] and [[John Cairncross]], all Soviet agents recruited while at Cambridge in the 1930s, was the most damaging penetration of British intelligence and government.[^1]
### Relationship to the Pedophile Information Exchange
### Cambridge Five and the Blunt confession
MI5's institutional relationship to the [[Pedophile Information Exchange]] (PIE) has been a subject of ongoing controversy. PIE, the UK pedophile lobby organization that operated 1974-1984, was monitored by MI5 as part of its surveillance of fringe political organizations during the period when domestic extremism surveillance was broadly defined. The question of whether MI5 actively managed a source within PIE - and specifically whether its handler relationship with one or more PIE members constituted knowing facilitation rather than merely surveillance - was raised by investigative journalists and in Parliamentary debate. Former PIE chairman Tom O'Carroll acknowledged police and security service interest in PIE's membership.[^2]
The Security Service's personal file on Blunt, covering 1935 to 1951, describes him as recruited by Russian intelligence while a student and then a don at Cambridge University, a member of the Cambridge Five, and a man who worked for MI5 from 1940 to 1945 and passed significant quantities of secret intelligence to the Russians. The file says that in 1951 he helped Burgess and Maclean defect to Moscow, and that in 1964 he confessed his espionage activities and was given immunity from prosecution in exchange for information about his fellow Russian intelligence agents.[^6]
The broader question of whether the [[Official Secrets Act|official secrecy framework]] and intelligence community relationships contributed to the non-prosecution of PIE members and associated figures in positions of political power was raised by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) established in 2014.
[[Christopher Andrew]] wrote that Blunt moved from the Intelligence Corps to the Security Service in June 1940, after [[Victor Rothschild]], then an MI5 counter-sabotage specialist, introduced him to [[Guy Liddell]], the head of B Division, who offered him a post. Andrew wrote that Soviet intelligence recorded Blunt under the codename TONY, and that late in 1940 Blunt recruited Burgess as a Security Service agent under the codename VAUXHALL.[^7] Blunt served as MI5's Director of Analysis during World War II while passing intelligence to Moscow.
The role was kept secret until [[Margaret Thatcher]], then Prime Minister, confirmed it in the Commons on November 21, 1979. Thatcher told the House that the Attorney-General, Sir [[John Hobson]], had decided "that it was in the public interest to offer an immunity from prosecution," and that "to this day there is no evidence which could be used as a basis for prosecution against Blunt." She said Blunt had been interviewed on eleven occasions over the following eight years, and that "both at the time of his confession and subsequently he has co-operated in the inquiries of the security authorities."[^8]
The internal debate about whether Roger Hollis himself was a Soviet agent, investigated inconclusively by MI5 during the 1970s, demonstrated the organizational paranoia and institutional damage that resulted from the Cambridge Five penetration. The Hollis suspicion was never proven.[^1]
### Personal files
The Security Service's personal files on [[Louis Dolivet]], held in volumes KV 2/4365 to KV 2/4369 and covering 1935 to 1959, describe him as "a secret communist" who "was active in the pre-war European peace movement, apparently acting under the instructions of Comintern leader Willi MUNZENBERG." The catalogue entry for the first volume says that from 1937 he was Secretary of the communist-influenced [[International Peace Campaign]] while presenting himself as a moderate socialist, that he moved to the United States in 1941 and continued similar activities until 1950, when he settled in Switzerland after being denied an entry visa, and that he later became a film producer and appeared to have given up any communist activity.[^9]
### Harold Wilson allegations and the Spycatcher litigation
[[Peter Wright]], a former MI5 officer and Assistant Director, wrote a memoir, *Spycatcher* (1987), that the Thatcher government sought to suppress through court injunctions in [[Australia]] and elsewhere. Wright wrote that MI5 officers had plotted against [[Harold Wilson]]'s Labour government in the 1970s, believing Wilson to be a Soviet agent, and the book disclosed classified technical intelligence methods.[^10]
The Security Service's catalogue describes file KV 4/480, covering May 1963 to September 1968, as recording discussions between the Director General and the Prime Minister, "primarily Harold Wilson," on topics of significant security concern.[^11]
Wilson's own suspicions had surfaced in 1977, when he gave [[Barrie Penrose]] and Roger Courtiour material for articles in *The Observer*. Andrew wrote that the Deputy Director General, John Jones, noted on July 27, 1977 that no one had fathomed Wilson's purpose in making the allegations, and that the Director General, Sir [[Michael Hanley]], briefed the Home Secretary and then met the Prime Minister, [[James Callaghan]], for an hour and a half. A Downing Street press statement of August 23, 1977 said Callaghan was satisfied that the allegations did not constitute grounds for lack of confidence in the Security Service or for a special inquiry, and that at no time had the service undertaken electronic surveillance in 10 Downing Street or the Prime Minister's room in the Commons.[^12]
On May 6, 1987, after Callaghan called for a review by a senior judge of the 1977 findings, Thatcher told the Commons that the Director General, [[Antony Duff]], had advised her that over the preceding four months he had conducted an investigation that included interviews with officers in post at the time, and that he had "found no evidence of any truth in the allegations." In her words, he had advised that all the officers interviewed "have categorically denied" involvement in any plans to undermine Wilson's government, that "No evidence or indication has been found of any plot or conspiracy against Lord Wilson by or within the security service," and that Wilson "has never been the subject of a security service investigation or of any form of electronic or other surveillance by the security service." Thatcher added: "I do not believe that any further inquiry would be justified." Callaghan replied that "there is a direct conflict of evidence between what Mr. Peter Wright has said and what I was told by the director-general of the Security Service in 1977."[^13]
Andrew wrote that Wright claimed in *Spycatcher* that thirty MI5 officers had approved a plot; that in a television interview Wright said "The maximum number was eight or nine. Very often it was only three" and, asked how many were still serious, answered "One, I should say"; and that Wright retired in January 1976. Andrew recorded that Stella Rimington, as Director General, invited former Labour home secretaries and other senior party figures to her office to dispel the allegation, and that she judged the attempt a failure.[^12] Andrew also wrote that the Director General's 1987 internal inquiry examined all relevant files and interviewed all relevant officers, serving and retired.[^12]
Andrew's account of the litigation runs as follows. Wright cooperated secretly with [[Chapman Pincher]] on *Their Trade is Treachery* (1981), with Victor Rothschild's encouragement, and appeared in a Granada *World in Action* programme on July 16, 1984. In September 1985 the Attorney-General, Sir [[Michael Havers]], began proceedings in Australia against Wright and Heinemann Australia, and admitted for the purposes of those proceedings that the allegations in *Spycatcher* were correct. The trial opened in Sydney in November 1986. The Cabinet Secretary, Sir [[Robert Armstrong]], was the principal government witness, and was cross-examined by Wright's counsel, [[Malcolm Turnbull]]; he acknowledged that he had been "economical with the truth." The government lost in the New South Wales Supreme Court, and its attempts to keep injunctions in force in Britain failed in the House of Lords in the summer of 1988.[^14]
The [[European Court of Human Rights]] decided two cases arising from the Spycatcher restraints on November 26, 1991. In *Observer and Guardian v. United Kingdom*, the court found by fourteen votes to ten that there was no violation of Article 10 for the period from July 11, 1986 to July 30, 1987, and a unanimous violation of Article 10 for the period from July 30, 1987 to October 13, 1988.[^15] In *The Sunday Times (No. 2) v. United Kingdom* it found a unanimous violation of Article 10.[^16] The [[Cabinet Office]] holds a file titled "Peter Wright Case" for August 27, 1987 to October 20, 1988, and a second for October 24, 1988 to April 19, 1990.[^17]
### Surveillance of CND and the unions, and the Massiter disclosures
Andrew wrote that by the mid-1970s members of the Communist Party of Great Britain held eight of the fifteen seats on the national executive of the [[Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament]], and that the service opened a temporary file on [[Bruce Kent]] as a "possible Anarchist" when he became chairman in 1977, converting it to a permanent file when he became general secretary in 1979. He wrote that [[Cathy Massiter]] opened a temporary file on the CND chairman [[Joan Ruddock]] in 1982, converted to a personal file in 1983 because of her meetings with Mikhail Bogdanov, whom Andrew identified as a KGB officer. A telephone check on [[John Cox]], a CND vice chairman and member of the Communist Party executive, began in 1983 and was cancelled in 1985; Andrew quoted a later review by a senior MI5 officer that "Massiter may be right in questioning whether the warrant was strictly justified." Andrew wrote that in March 1983 the service gave the [[Ministry of Defence]] open-source material on the political affiliations of seven leading CND members, and quoted a later internal investigation finding that the Ministry "was anxious to obtain ammunition against CND."[^18]
On the miners' strike of 1984 and 1985, Andrew wrote that the Director of F Branch told the Directors' Meeting on March 13, 1984 that there did not appear to be significant subversive involvement; that [[Arthur Scargill]] had been the subject of a Home Secretary's warrant for telephone interception since November 1973 and the National Union of Mineworkers vice president Mick McGahey for most of the period since 1970; that from late June 1984 copies of the service's Box 500 situation reports on the strike were sent to Thatcher through the Cabinet Secretary; and that Rimington, then head of F2, recalled "agonising" over continuing the warrant on Scargill. Andrew also recorded the allegation, in a Commons motion by Labour MPs, that the NUM chief executive [[Roger Windsor]] had been an MI5 agent, which Rimington and Prime Minister John Major denied and for which Windsor won damages from the *Sunday Express*.[^18]
Massiter, who had left the service, appeared in the Channel 4 *20/20 Vision* documentary "MI5's Official Secrets," a retired Security Service secretary also contributing. After an advance viewing on February 20, 1985, the [[Independent Broadcasting Authority]] stopped transmission; the Attorney-General, Sir Michael Havers, decided against prosecution on March 5; the ban was lifted on March 6 and the programme was shown on March 8. Home Secretary [[Leon Brittan]] asked [[Lord Bridge of Harwich]] to investigate whether the required warrants had been obtained and the criteria applied. Bridge began on February 28 and reported on March 6 that there had been no wrongdoing; Andrew wrote that 6,129 Home Secretary's warrants had been issued over the previous fifteen years, that the *Daily Telegraph* called the report "hasty and bland," and that [[Roy Jenkins]] said Bridge had been made to appear a "poodle of the executive."[^19]
On December 10, 1984, asked by [[Gerald Kaufman]] about allegations of telephone tapping and mail interference affecting CND, Brittan declined an inquiry, saying he was satisfied that the interception arrangements were strictly applied.[^20] In the Commons debate of March 12, 1985, Brittan said he had concluded "that the security service has carried out no operation, investigation, surveillance or action against any individual otherwise than for the purposes laid down in its directive," and that there had been no allegations of unauthorised interception in the film.[^21] Kaufman told the House that, according to Massiter, Cox did not meet the test of a major subversive, terrorist or espionage threat; that secret information obtained by covert means for MI5 was passed to the Ministry of Defence's DS19 unit, and that a briefing paper on CND was prepared for MI5 by the Secretary of State for Defence; and that MI5 "deliberately and wrongfully classified Joan Ruddock, the Chairman of CND, as a subversive."[^21] Andrew wrote that the charge about Ruddock was mistaken, since the service's concern was her meetings with a Soviet journalist who was a KGB officer.[^19]
During the Commons second reading of the Security Service Bill on December 15, 1988, [[David Winnick]] told the House that Massiter had said CND leaders were spied upon, that national executive members and active branch members of the [[National Council for Civil Liberties]] were placed on permanent record, and that the Opposition suspected CND was targeted because the Secretary of State for Defence gave direct orders to MI5.[^5] Andrew wrote that Massiter swore an affidavit in the case before the European Court of Human Rights brought by the NCCL's former officers [[Harriet Harman]] and [[Patricia Hewitt]], that the service concluded they would probably win because of the absence of a statutory basis, and that the European Court's judgment in *Leander v. Sweden* (March 1987) and that Duff pressed the case for a Security Service Act, which Andrew wrote was strengthened by *Leander v. Sweden* (March 1987) and by the pending Harman and Hewitt case.[^19]
### Kincora Boys' Home
The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, known as the Hart Inquiry, examined in Volume 9 whether the security services knew of the sexual abuse of residents at [[Kincora Boys' Home]] and whether they exploited, connived in or ignored it. The inquiry defined the security services as [[RUC Special Branch]], MI5, the Secret Intelligence Service and British Army Intelligence.[^22] Allegations about what those services knew came from individuals including [[Colin Wallace]] and [[Brian Gemmell]].[^22]
The inquiry recorded that the first reference to [[William McGrath]] in MI5 records was a mid-June 1971 report by an MI5 covert human intelligence source on a loyalist meeting addressed by "a man named McGrath," the "Officer Commanding" of the "Tara Brigade," and that MI5 did not create a permanent file on McGrath until May 1977. A letter of April 7, 1972 from James Miller, reporting what a third party had told him, said that "Tara CO McGrath had been accused of assaulting small boys."[^23]
The inquiry found that it was not until 1980 that MI5, the Secret Intelligence Service, the Ministry of Defence and Special Branch became aware that McGrath had been sexually abusing residents, when that became a public allegation.[^24] By November 1973 MI5, unlike the other three agencies, had also received information that the person later identified as McGrath had been accused of "assaulting small boys."[^25] The inquiry held that it would be unjustified to criticise MI5 for not passing that information to Special Branch, citing the eighteen months between receipt and the later identification of McGrath as the leader of TARA, and the assessment at the time that the report was of dubious reliability.[^26] It also stated that the failure to pass the information "may have been influenced by a desire to protect the existence of their source."[^26]
On [[John McKeague]], the inquiry recorded the statement of MI5 Officer 9004 that MI5 had no compromising film of him and made no attempt to blackmail him, and that one MI5 officer put forward in November 1976 an operational proposal, never endorsed, that "serious consideration should be given to using [McKeague's] homosexual tendencies to recruit him." The inquiry found that an MI5 officer discussed the possibility of exploiting McKeague's homosexuality with Gemmell, probably at a lunch on September 7, 1976, and that it never progressed beyond a proposal.[^27]
A Note for File dated October 17, 1989, written by an MI5 officer, recorded a meeting with an SIS officer who had referred to at least one agent who was aware of sexual malpractice at Kincora. In a 2016 witness statement, MI5 witness Officer 9004 concluded: "Extensive reviews of its files enables MI5 to confirm that no MI5 CHIS produced intelligence about child abuse at Kincora prior to the media revelations of January 1980."[^28] The inquiry also recorded a telex of June 29 and 30, 1982 from the MI5 Assistant Director and Coordinator of Intelligence about the Caskey Phase Three investigation, which referred to the possibility of creating "false files." The inquiry stated that the use of the expression "was at best unwise and at worst demonstrated a willingness to deceive the police," and that the telex went on to say "we should be in difficulty if we attempt to deceive him and manufacture false files or deny the existence of real ones"; it was satisfied that the suggestion was not pursued.[^29]
The inquiry also recorded that MI5 investigated [[Maurice Oldfield]] in 1980 and 1981 in a review of his Positive Vetting clearance, and that the inquiry examined allegations that Oldfield had visited Kincora or had dealings with McGrath. In a letter dated February 19, 1981, the Director General, [[Howard Smith]], wrote that Oldfield "laid himself dangerously open to compromise" through his admitted homosexual relations with hotel stewards in the Far East during the 1950s.[^30]
The inquiry examined the memorandum of November 8, 1974, known as GC80, which Wallace maintained he wrote in that month. It stated that there was "an extremely strong circumstantial case" that the document "was not created in November 1974 as Mr Wallace maintains, but was created in the form in which it emerged in 1984 at a considerably later date."[^31]
### Stakeknife and the disclosure failures
[[Operation Kenova]], a [[Police Service of Northern Ireland]] investigation led by [[Jon Boutcher]] and later by [[Iain Livingstone]], examined the agent known as [[Stakeknife]], a figure inside the [[Provisional IRA]]'s internal security unit who was handled by the Army's [[Force Research Unit]] (FRU). The Interim Report, published on March 8, 2024, stated that MI5 "was not responsible for how Stakeknife was targeted or run and could not sensibly be criticised for the conduct or operation of the FRU or any of its agents."[^32][^33]
The Kenova Final Report quotes that passage and then sets out an updated assessment. Kenova found that MI5 "was aware of Stakeknife's recruitment from the outset" and knew of his involvement in the abduction and interrogation of suspected agents "who were then murdered." It found that MI5 was involved in briefing and tasking him through the FRU, received debriefs on all his intelligence, and supplied specialist technical support. It recorded that MI5 expressed concerns and reservations about him, that MI5 recommended the review of his handling conducted toward the end of his deployment, and that MI5 advised the FRU on his possible relocation. The report found "no evidence of MI5 personnel escalating any concerns" about Stakeknife or his handling to more senior personnel within MI5 or any other member of the security forces.[^34]
In April 2024 MI5 informed Kenova that it had found a significant quantity of previously undisclosed material relating to Stakeknife. MI5 stated that the material had been found in mid-March 2024, within days of the Interim Report being published, during work to organise and digitise its Northern Ireland legacy archive, and that related emails "strongly indicate" the material had been transferred from Stormont to London in 2004 for disclosure to the [[Stevens Inquiry]]. The first tranche, received on May 7, 2024, covered almost the entirety of the period during which Stakeknife operated as an agent. Further tranches were notified in May and October 2024.[^35]
A review of MI5's disclosure process, carried out by former Assistant Commissioner [[Helen Ball]] between October 2024 and January 2025 at the request of MI5's Director General, concluded that "none of the material was, deliberately withheld from Operation Kenova at either an individual or an organisational level." Ball found that MI5's disclosure exercise drew on historic information management practices for Northern Ireland material that were not as strong as those MI5 had in place, and made six recommendations, all accepted by MI5.[^36] Livingstone called the late disclosure "deeply regrettable," noting that it came after the Kenova investigative phase had concluded and after the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland had made decisions on prosecutions.[^37]
The Kenova Final Report, published on December 9, 2025, urged the government to depart from its neither confirm nor deny policy on Stakeknife's identity. Livingstone called on the government to name him publicly, describing the agent's offending as "grotesque serious crime" including torture and murder.[^38] On February 9, 2026 the [[Northern Ireland Affairs Committee]] published a report concluding that revealing the identity of Stakeknife would be strongly in the public interest.[^39]
### Legal authority: the Third Direction case and criminal conduct authorisations
In a judgment of December 20, 2019 the [[Investigatory Powers Tribunal]] ruled three to two that MI5's policy on authorising agents to take part in crime was lawful. The claimants were [[Privacy International]], [[Reprieve]], the [[Committee on the Administration of Justice]] and the Pat Finucane Centre, and the case is known as the "Third Direction" case after a direction from the Prime Minister to the Intelligence Services Commissioner, whose existence was disclosed in the Commissioner's confidential annex for 2014 and which was published on March 1, 2018.[^40] The policy under challenge was the Security Service Guidelines on the use of agents who participate in criminality, the current version dating from March 2011, with earlier versions of 1995 or before, 1997 and 2003. The Guidelines stated that an authorisation "has no legal effect and does not confer on either the agent or those involved in the authorisation process any immunity from prosecution," and would be the service's "explanation and justification" if the agent's conduct came under scrutiny by the police or prosecuting authorities.[^40] The tribunal recorded a letter of September 23, 2011 from [[Andrew Parker]], then Deputy Director General, to the Intelligence Services Commissioner, Sir Mark Waller, stating that the Guidelines had been in place since the early 1990s and that incoming Home Secretaries had been briefed on them.[^40]
The majority (the President, Lord Justice Singh, Lord Boyd of Duncansby and Sir Richard McLaughlin) held that there was an implied power in the 1989 Act for the service to run agents embedded in criminal organisations, and dismissed the claim.[^40] Charles Flint QC and Professor Graham Zellick QC dissented. Flint wrote that he was "unable to find that the 1989 Act provides any legal basis for the policy under challenge." The two dissenting judges published the first dissenting opinions in the tribunal's history.[^40][^41] The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal on March 9, 2021.[^42]
The [[Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021]] provides a statutory scheme for criminal conduct authorisations. Its first section is headed "Criminal conduct authorisations."[^43]
### Westminster allegations, the Dickens dossier and the IICSA searches
[[Geoffrey Dickens]], a Conservative MP, asked the Attorney General in March 1981 whether he would prosecute Sir [[Peter Hayman]] and whether the security implications of entries in Hayman's diaries, referred to in [[Tom O'Carroll]]'s trial at the Old Bailey, would be investigated. In 1983 and 1984 he held a series of meetings with the Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, at which he provided information purporting to identify other high-profile abusers in government and the Royal Household. The [[Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse]] (IICSA) found that what was in the "Dickens dossier" and how many dossiers there were is unclear, and that several files or documents have misleadingly become known by that name.[^44]
IICSA commissioned searches of documents at MI5, the Secret Intelligence Service and [[GCHQ]], and of Metropolitan Police Special Branch records, and its Chair examined documents at MI5 headquarters, where the vast majority of relevant documents were found. The report set out a table prepared by the MI5 witness of information MI5 held. It included the 1980 vetting review of Oldfield; information received in 1980 that Hayman engaged in sexual activities with young boys; in 1981 about [[Tom Driberg]]; in the mid-1980s from two sources that [[Peter Morrison]] "has a penchant for small boys"; in 1982 about [[William Van Straubenzee]], shared with the Cabinet Office and the Prime Minister; and in 1973 a police report about an alleged video recording involving [[Anthony Lambton]]. The Leon Brittan entry records information received in the mid-1980s that suggested Brittan or a close MP associate engaged in sexual relations with teenagers, followed within a day by information that it did not relate to Brittan but was rumoured to relate to the associate, and within the week by information that the rumour had been started by a prisoner turned down for parole out of vindictiveness. The panel concluded that "no material was found at any of the four organisations to indicate either the existence of a 'Westminster paedophile network' or of any attempts to cover up or suppress information about the existence of such a network."[^45]
On Morrison, the report recorded that on January 6, 1986 Duff wrote to the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Robert Armstrong, recalling unsubstantiated rumours of 1983, and that a member of his staff, [[Eliza Manningham-Buller]], had passed on information from a friend. A letter of July 7, 1987 from Patrick Walker of the Security Service to Armstrong, on a security briefing given to Morrison, confirmed a meeting between Morrison's agent and the Labour candidate in Chester. The MI5 witness described it as "a matter of regret that no consideration was given at the time to the criminal aspects of the matter," the corporate record showing a "narrow, security-related view." MI5 had no specific policy relating to the protection of children at risk before 2014.[^46]
The [[Pedophile Information Exchange]] (PIE), the UK organisation that operated from 1974 to 1984, was monitored by MI5 as part of its surveillance of fringe political organisations during the period when domestic extremism surveillance was broadly defined. Whether MI5 actively managed a source within PIE, and whether its handler relationship with one or more PIE members amounted to knowing facilitation rather than surveillance, was raised by investigative journalists and in Parliamentary debate. Former PIE chairman Tom O'Carroll acknowledged police and security service interest in PIE's membership. Tim Hulbert, who worked at the Home Office Voluntary Services Unit, gave accounts in 2013, 2014 and 2019 that a colleague there told him, in a period he placed between 1978 and 1980, that a grant to PIE was extended at the request of the Security Services (his 2013 account) or of Special Branch (his 2019 account), who found it useful to identify people with paedophile inclinations. IICSA wrote that it did not consider that Hulbert had done other than his honest best, found "no independent support" for the allegation, found "some evidence which undermines it," and stated that there was no available evidence that PIE received Home Office funding.[^47] The broader question of whether the official secrecy framework (the [[Official Secrets Act]]) and intelligence community relationships contributed to the non-prosecution of PIE members and associated figures in positions of political power was raised by IICSA.
### Advisers and consultants
[[William Sargant]], the psychiatrist, is described in a 2006 book by [[Dominic Streatfeild]] as an informal consultant to MI5. Streatfeild's principal source, a senior psychiatrist described as a former close colleague of Sargant, confirmed that Sargant "loved doing things for the government" and discussed the advisory role openly in informal terms, but stated that he was "never an official psychiatrist to either MI5 or MI6."[^48]
The death of the British journalist [[Jonathan Moyle]] in Chile in 1990 was the subject of a police account that the Chilean investigating judge began to doubt. British officials in Chile and, it was understood, members of MI5 in London put it about that Moyle "was a sexual deviant who hanged himself while attempting to obtain pleasure." [[The Guardian]] reported on June 2, 1990 that no evidence had been provided to support that characterisation.[^49]
### Liaison and stay-behind networks
[[Vasili Mitrokhin]], a former KGB archivist, gave British intelligence copies of notes he had made from KGB files. Christopher Andrew and Mitrokhin published the material in *The Sword and the Shield* (1999).[^50] The [[Intelligence and Security Committee]] reported on the security and intelligence agencies' handling of information provided by Mitrokhin on June 13, 2000.[^51]
The Foreign Office kept files titled "Operation Gladio (planned undercover operations in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe)" for 1990 and 1991.[^52][^53] MI5 shares liaison relationships with the other domestic services of the [[Five Eyes]] countries, among them the [[Canadian Security Intelligence Service|CSIS]], the [[Australian Security Intelligence Organization|ASIO]] and the [[New Zealand Security Intelligence Service|NZSIS]], that derive from the UKUSA framework.[^1]
### Mossad liaison and the 1988 expulsions
[[Peter Hounam]] wrote that after Sowan was sentenced to eleven years in June 1988, the government expelled [[Arie Regev]], the [[Mossad]]'s liaison with MI5 and MI6, together with other Israeli officers. He wrote that the expulsion was taken on the initiative of the [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office|Foreign Office]] and MI5, and over the objection of MI6.[^54]
### Matrix Churchill and BCCI
[[Alan Friedman]] wrote that an executive of [[Matrix Churchill]], [[Mark Gutteridge]], "first told MI5 about [[Gerald Bull]] and his supergun in May 1988," and an MI5 officer was reported to have confirmed at the 1992 trial of the Matrix Churchill directors that Gutteridge had reported to the service on Bull's company.[^55]
The 1992 report to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate on [[BCCI]], by Senators [[John Kerry]] and [[Hank Brown]], recorded that a British judge had declined to let the committee receive BCCI documents held in the United Kingdom without the written "permission" of the depositors involved, "such as [[Abu Nidal Organization|Abu Nidal]]." It stated: "Still other BCCI documents in the United Kingdom have been segregated and sealed by British intelligence (MI-5), and withheld from dissemination to anyone."[^56]
[[Lucy Komisar]] wrote that [[Ghassan Qassem]] alerted MI5 after BCCI headquarters told him to destroy a document, and that MI5 then traced payments from the BCCI account of a Syrian intelligence operative to the Abu Nidal agent who in 1986 had used his girlfriend in an unsuccessful attempt to smuggle a bomb aboard an Israeli airliner at [[Heathrow Airport]].[^57]
### Operation Midland and the Westminster allegations
[[Carl Beech]], whose allegations to the [[Metropolitan Police]] in 2014 named former heads of MI5 and MI6 among others, was convicted in 2019 of fraud and perverting the course of justice.[^58] The two former heads named by Beech were Michael Hanley and Maurice Oldfield, the latter the subject of the 1980 to 1981 vetting review recorded by the Hart Inquiry.[^30]
### Press relations
In October 2016 Andrew Parker, then Director General, gave an interview to The Guardian that the paper described as the first newspaper interview given by an incumbent MI5 chief in the service's history.[^59]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Andrew, Christopher. *The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5.* Knopf, 2009.
[^2]: Wright, Peter. *Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer.* Viking, 1987.
[^1]: Andrew, Christopher. *The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5.* Allen Lane, 2009 (US edition Knopf, 2009).
[^2]: *Security Service Act 1989*, c. 5, s. 1(1) to (4). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/5/section/1
[^3]: *Security Service Act 1996*, c. 35. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/35/contents
[^4]: *Privacy International and Others v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Others*, IPT/17/86/CH, judgment of December 20, 2019, paras. 44 and 45 (quoting the Directive of September 24, 1952, paras. 2 and 3, and citing Andrew, *The Defence of the Realm*, pp. 323 and 615). https://investigatorypowerstribunal.org.uk/judgement/privacy-international-others-v-secretary-of-state-for-foreign-and-commonwealth-affairs-others-3/
[^5]: House of Commons, *Hansard* HC Deb 15 December 1988, vol. 143, cc. 1104-81, Security Service Bill, second reading (Douglas Hurd, Home Secretary; David Winnick). https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1988/dec/15/security-service-bill
[^6]: The National Archives, KV 2/4700, "Anthony BLUNT: British. BLUNT was recruited by the Russian Intelligence Services (RIS) to talent spot..." (Security Service personal file, 1935 to 1951). https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C19404936. The same description is carried in KV 2/4704 (1956 to 1964) and KV 2/4720 (1972 to 1973).
[^7]: Andrew, *The Defence of the Realm*, Section C, "Soviet Penetration and the Communist Party."
[^8]: House of Commons, *Hansard* HC Deb 21 November 1979, vol. 974, cc. 402-520, debate on Anthony Blunt, including the statement by the Prime Minister, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1979/nov/21/mr-anthony-blunt
[^9]: The National Archives, KV 2/4365, "Louis DOLIVET alias DOLIVEUX, Ludovic BRECHER, ULIANU, BOVET" (Security Service personal file, 1935 to 1937). https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16548842. Later volumes KV 2/4366 to KV 2/4369 cover 1937 to 1959 and carry the same catalogue heading.
[^10]: Wright, Peter. *Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer.* Viking, 1987.
[^11]: The National Archives, KV 4/480, "Liaison between the Director General and the Prime Minister" (Security Service policy file, 1963 to 1968). https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C19404997
[^12]: Andrew, *The Defence of the Realm*, Section E, "The 'Wilson Plot'," including the Downing Street statement of August 23, 1977, Wright's television interview, and Rimington's account.
[^13]: House of Commons, *Hansard* HC Deb 6 May 1987, vol. 115, cc. 723-32, "State Security" (private notice question by Neil Kinnock; statement by the Prime Minister; reply by Sir James Callaghan). https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1987/may/06/state-security. On Duff's appointment as Director General in spring 1985, see Andrew, *The Defence of the Realm*, Section E, "The Origins of the Security Service Act."
[^14]: Andrew, *The Defence of the Realm*, Section E, "The Origins of the Security Service Act," on Wright, Pincher, the Australian proceedings, Armstrong's cross-examination and the House of Lords decision.
[^15]: *Observer and Guardian v. the United Kingdom*, App. No. 13585/88, judgment of 26 November 1991, operative provisions, paras. 1 and 2. https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-57705
[^16]: *The Sunday Times (No. 2) v. the United Kingdom*, App. No. 13166/87, judgment of 26 November 1991, operative provisions, para. 1. https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-57708
[^17]: The National Archives, CAB 164/2107, "Peter Wright Case" (1987 to 1988), https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C20537828; CAB 164/2108, "Peter Wright Case" (1988 to 1990), Cabinet Office Subject (Theme Series) Files.
[^18]: Andrew, *The Defence of the Realm*, Section E, "The Thatcher Government and Subversion."
[^19]: Andrew, *The Defence of the Realm*, Section E, "The Origins of the Security Service Act," on the Massiter broadcast, the Bridge inquiry, the Commons debate of March 12, 1985, and the origins of the 1989 Act.
[^20]: House of Commons, *Hansard* HC Deb 10 December 1984, vol. 69, cc. 737-40, "Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament." https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1984/dec/10/campaign-for-nuclear-disarmament
[^21]: House of Commons, *Hansard* HC Deb 12 March 1985, vol. 75, cc. 151-244, Interception of Communications Bill (Leon Brittan; Gerald Kaufman). https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1985/mar/12/interception-of-communications-bill
[^22]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, *Kincora Boys' Home (Part 2)*, Chapter 28, Module 15, paras. 1-4. https://www.hiainquiry.org/sites/hiainquiry/files/media-files/Chapter%2028%20-%20Module%2015%20-%20Kincora%20Boys%E2%80%99%20Home%20%28Part%202%29_0.pdf
[^23]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, paras. 96-97.
[^24]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, para. 227.
[^25]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, para. 228.
[^26]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, paras. 229-230.
[^27]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, paras. 155-158.
[^28]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, paras. 633-635, quoting the Note for File of October 17, 1989 and the witness statement of Officer 9004 dated November 29, 2016.
[^29]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, paras. 636-638, quoting the telex of June 29 and 30, 1982 (KIN 4182).
[^30]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, paras. 610-614, quoting the letter of the Director General of MI5, Sir Howard Smith, to the Secretary of the Cabinet, February 19, 1981.
[^31]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, para. 572.
[^32]: Operation Kenova, *Final Report* (December 2025), Part A, sections 3 and 4, on the Interim Report published by the Police Service of Northern Ireland on March 8, 2024. https://www.kenova.co.uk/FINAL%20Kenova%20Report.pdf
[^33]: Operation Kenova, *Interim Report* (Police Service of Northern Ireland, March 8, 2024), as quoted in *Final Report*, para. 12.16.
[^34]: Operation Kenova, *Final Report*, paras. 12.20 to 12.22.
[^35]: Operation Kenova, *Final Report*, paras. 4.3 to 4.7, covering MI5's letter of April 8, 2024, the tranche dates, and the letter from Livingstone to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland dated August 6, 2025.
[^36]: Helen Ball QPM, *Kenova Disclosure: External Review, Unclassified Summary* (February 2025), conclusions and recommendations. https://www.kenova.co.uk/Kenova%20External%20Review%20by%20H%20Ball%20Feb%202025%20(002).pdf
[^37]: Operation Kenova, statement of Sir Iain Livingstone QPM, "Report into undisclosed MI5 files published." https://www.kenova.co.uk/report-into-undisclosed-mi5-files-published
[^38]: Operation Kenova, press release, "Final Report: Government urged to name Stakeknife," December 9, 2025. https://www.kenova.co.uk/government-urged-to-name-stakeknife
[^39]: Operation Kenova, statement on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee report on naming Stakeknife, "Kenova welcomes report which calls for Stakeknife to be named," February 9, 2026. https://www.kenova.co.uk/kenova-welcomes-report-which-calls-for-stakeknife-to-be-named
[^40]: *Privacy International and Others v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Others* (the "Third Direction" case), IPT/17/86/CH and IPT/17/87/CH, open judgment of December 20, 2019 (Singh LJ, Lord Boyd of Duncansby, Sir Richard McLaughlin, Charles Flint QC, Professor Graham Zellick QC), paras. 1-4, 9, 12-17, 27, 60, 112-113 and 130. https://investigatorypowerstribunal.org.uk/judgement/privacy-international-others-v-secretary-of-state-for-foreign-and-commonwealth-affairs-others-3/
[^41]: Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ), press statement on the Investigatory Powers Tribunal judgment, December 20, 2019. https://caj.org.uk/latest/tribunal-judges-divided-on-mi5-secret-approvals-for-serious-crime/
[^42]: *Privacy International and Others v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Others*, IPT/17/86 and 87/CH, judgment on the "IPCO issue," October 21, 2021, para. 2 (appeal dismissed March 9, 2021, [2021] EWCA Civ 330). https://investigatorypowerstribunal.org.uk/judgement/privacy-international-others-v-secretary-of-state-for-foreign-and-commonwealth-affairs-others/
[^43]: *Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021*, c. 4, s. 1 ("Criminal conduct authorisations"). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/4/section/1
[^44]: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, *Allegations of child sexual abuse linked to Westminster: Investigation Report* (February 2020), Part B, paras. 14-16. https://www.iicsa.org.uk/investigations-research/investigations/allegations-of-abuse-by-people-of-public-prominence-associated-with-westminster
[^45]: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, *Allegations of child sexual abuse linked to Westminster: Investigation Report* (February 2020), Part C, "Searches at the security and intelligence agencies and at Metropolitan Police Special Branch," paras. 1-7 and Table 1.
[^46]: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, *Allegations of child sexual abuse linked to Westminster: Investigation Report* (February 2020), Part E, paras. 79-80 and 103-129; Part J, para. 29.
[^47]: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, *Allegations of child sexual abuse linked to Westminster: Investigation Report* (February 2020), Part G.3, paras. 49-52, 63, 77 and 79.
[^48]: Streatfeild, Dominic. *Brainwash: The Secret History of Mind Control.* Hodder and Stoughton, 2006, ch. 7.
[^49]: Coad, Malcolm, and David Pallister. "Dead journalist sex smear 'foul,'" *The Guardian*, June 2, 1990, p. 3.
[^50]: Andrew, Christopher, and Vasili Mitrokhin. *The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB.* Basic Books, 1999.
[^51]: Intelligence and Security Committee, *Report on the Security and Intelligence Agencies' handling of information provided by Mr Mitrokhin*, Cm 4764, June 13, 2000. The National Archives, YHL/PO/JO/10/11/3212/1631. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/69d2845c-ac34-49c2-8515-4341f51b7c76
[^52]: The National Archives, FCO 46/7916, "Operation Gladio (planned undercover operations in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe)" (1990). https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C17145239
[^53]: The National Archives, FCO 179/318, "Operation Gladio (planned undercover operations in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe)" (1991). https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C17418932
[^54]: Hounam, Peter. *The Woman from Mossad: The Story of Mordechai Vanunu and the Israeli Nuclear Program.* Vision Paperbacks, 1999, pp. 74, 127.
[^55]: Friedman, Alan. *Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq.* Bantam, 1993, pp. 78-79, 116, 250; trial of the Matrix Churchill directors, Central Criminal Court, 1992.
[^56]: Kerry, John, and Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 11, "BCCI, the CIA and Foreign Intelligence." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm
[^57]: Komisar, Lucy. "BCCI's Double Game: Banking on America, Banking on Jihad." https://www.thekomisarscoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/BCCIs-Double-Game-Banking-on-America-Banking-on-Jihad-by-Lucy-Komisar.pdf
[^58]: "Carl Beech: Liar, fraudster and paedophile." *BBC News*, July 26, 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49048972
[^59]: Ewen MacAskill and Paul Johnson, interview with Andrew Parker, director general of MI5, *The Guardian*, October 31, 2016.

115
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/Central Intelligence Agency.md
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@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ aliases:
- Central Intelligence Agency
- CIA
created: 2025-07-22
updated: 2026-10-12
updated: 2026-10-14
tags:
- Organization
- Intelligence
@ -34,19 +34,19 @@ relations:
with: "[[Psychological Strategy Board]]"
role: "Member agency; the Director of Central Intelligence chaired meeting M-8"
start: 1952-01-10
fn: 55
fn: 56
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Max Millikan]]"
reverse: true
role: "Assistant Director, Research and Reports (1951); Special Consultant (1952)"
start: 1951-01
end: 1952-03
fn: 56
fn: 57
- type: funded
with: "[[Center for International Studies]]"
role: "agency money reported to have set up the center in 1951; $300,000 reported in 1967"
start: 1951
fn: 63
fn: 64
---
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a primary intelligence-gathering organization of the United States government. In the context of psychic research, the CIA played a significant, albeit often covert, role in funding and overseeing programs aimed at exploring and utilizing psychic phenomena for intelligence purposes.[^1]
@ -142,19 +142,19 @@ The CIA's covert action division, the Directorate of Operations, created and man
Federal law enforcement records and congressional testimony established that the CIA had reports of [[Cocaine]] being transshipped through Contra-linked facilities, including [[Ilopango Airbase]] in [[El Salvador]]. When defense attorneys in the [[Frogman Case]] obtained letters from CIA assets claiming seized drug money belonged to the Contras, the CIA's Costa Rican station cabled Langley that both men were assets of an organization that had "unwittingly received CIA support." CIA lawyer Lee Strickland flew to [[San Francisco]] and asked the prosecutor to ensure depositions did not go forward. The government returned $36,020 in seized drug money and a CIA cable declared: "CIA equities are fully protected."[^38]
The pseudonymous agent [[Ivan Gomez|Iván Gómez]], assigned to Costa Rica in 1982 as the CIA's liaison to the Contra armies, admitted during polygraph tests that he had laundered drug money. He was fired in 1989 for repeated polygraph failures concerning drug dealing.[^38]
Webb wrote that the pseudonymous agent [[Ivan Gomez|Iván Gómez]], assigned to Costa Rica in 1982 as the CIA's liaison to the Contra armies, admitted during polygraph tests that he had laundered drug money, and that he was fired in 1989 for repeated polygraph failures concerning drug dealing.[^38] The CIA Inspector General's 1998 report stated that CIA records show a CIA independent contractor used the alias "Ivan Gomez" in Costa Rica in the 1980s, that CIA records place the contractor in the United States during April and May 1982, and that he denied meeting Carlos Cabezas.[^39]
### The Secret 1982 Agreement with the Justice Department
In early 1982, CIA director William J. Casey and Attorney General [[William French Smith]] signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding that exempted the CIA from reporting drug crimes committed by its non-employees - a category including agents, assets, and non-staff employees. Drug offenses were specifically removed from the list of crimes the CIA was required to report. The agreement remained in effect from 1982 to 1995.[^39]
In early 1982, CIA director William J. Casey and Attorney General [[William French Smith]] signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding that exempted the CIA from reporting drug crimes committed by its non-employees - a category including agents, assets, and non-staff employees. Drug offenses were specifically removed from the list of crimes the CIA was required to report. The agreement remained in effect from 1982 to 1995.[^40]
### Ilopango Obstruction
When [[DEA]] agent [[Celerino Castillo]] began investigating Contra drug trafficking at Ilopango, the CIA intervened directly.[^40] On April 25, 1986 the El Salvador station replied to a Costa Rica station cable of April 23 about Carlos Amador. The reply asked: "Based on that information, [El Salvador] Station would appreciate [Costa Rica] Station advising [DEA] not to make any inquiries to anyone re: hangar no. 4 at Ilopango since only legitimate [CIA] supported operations were conducted from this facility." The same cable stated that station air operations had moved from Hangar 4 into Hangar 5, which the station still occupied.[^41]
When [[DEA]] agent [[Celerino Castillo]] began investigating Contra drug trafficking at Ilopango, the CIA intervened directly.[^41] On April 25, 1986 the El Salvador station replied to a Costa Rica station cable of April 23 about Carlos Amador. The reply asked: "Based on that information, [El Salvador] Station would appreciate [Costa Rica] Station advising [DEA] not to make any inquiries to anyone re: hangar no. 4 at Ilopango since only legitimate [CIA] supported operations were conducted from this facility." The same cable stated that station air operations had moved from Hangar 4 into Hangar 5, which the station still occupied.[^42]
### Inspector General Investigation
CIA Inspector General [[Fred Hitz]] testified before the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence|House Intelligence Committee]] in March 1998 that the CIA "did not, in an expeditious or consistent fashion, cut off relationships with individuals supporting the Contra program who were alleged to have engaged in drug trafficking activity," including trafficking within the United States. His 400-page report documented CIA relationships with more than 50 suspected drug traffickers during the Contra war.[^39]
CIA Inspector General [[Fred Hitz]] testified before the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence|House Intelligence Committee]] in March 1998 that the CIA "did not, in an expeditious or consistent fashion, cut off relationships with individuals supporting the Contra program who were alleged to have engaged in drug trafficking activity," including trafficking within the United States. His 400-page report documented CIA relationships with more than 50 suspected drug traffickers during the Contra war.[^40]
### Iran-Contra Indictments
@ -162,37 +162,37 @@ Multiple CIA officials were indicted during the Iran-Contra investigation. Clarr
### Interrogation videotapes and the 2004 to 2006 directorship
[[Porter Goss]], a former House intelligence chairman, was confirmed by the Senate 77 to 17 on September 22, 2004, was sworn in at the White House on September 24, 2004, and announced his resignation on May 5, 2006.[^42] His executive director, [[Kyle Foggo]], the agency's No. 3 official, resigned in May 2006 while the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] was examining whether he had improperly helped the defense contractor [[Brent Wilkes]] obtain large CIA contracts.[^43] Foggo pleaded guilty in 2008 to one count of defrauding the government and was sentenced on February 26, 2009 to 37 months.[^44]
[[Porter Goss]], a former House intelligence chairman, was confirmed by the Senate 77 to 17 on September 22, 2004, was sworn in at the White House on September 24, 2004, and announced his resignation on May 5, 2006.[^43] His executive director, [[Kyle Foggo]], the agency's No. 3 official, resigned in May 2006 while the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] was examining whether he had improperly helped the defense contractor [[Brent Wilkes]] obtain large CIA contracts.[^44] Foggo pleaded guilty in 2008 to one count of defrauding the government and was sentenced on February 26, 2009 to 37 months.[^45]
The [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]]'s 2014 study of the detention and interrogation program records that the CIA destroyed videotapes of the interrogations of [[Abu Zubaydah]] and [[Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri]] on November 9, 2005, the day after the Senate's November 8 vote against an amendment to establish an independent commission on detainee treatment.[^45] In an October 31, 2005 email, the CIA attorney [[John Rizzo]] wrote that he needed "to be the skunk at the party again."[^45]
The [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]]'s 2014 study of the detention and interrogation program records that the CIA destroyed videotapes of the interrogations of [[Abu Zubaydah]] and [[Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri]] on November 9, 2005, the day after the Senate's November 8 vote against an amendment to establish an independent commission on detainee treatment.[^46] In an October 31, 2005 email, the CIA attorney [[John Rizzo]] wrote that he needed "to be the skunk at the party again."[^46]
Emails released by the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] in April 2010, under a Freedom of Information Act request by the [[American Civil Liberties Union]], state that in November 2005 [[Jose A. Rodriguez Jr.|Jose Rodriguez]] told Goss and others he "felt it was extremely important to destroy the tapes and that if there was any heat, he would take it," and that Goss "laughed and said he'd be the one to take the heat." The same email states: "PG, however, agreed with the decision." NBC News reported that the email is an after-the-fact summary that does not prove Goss approved the destruction, that current and former intelligence officials have said he did not and was angry to find out, and that Rodriguez's lawyer disputed that.[^46] On November 9, 2010, the Justice Department said special prosecutor [[John Durham]] would not bring criminal charges over the destruction.[^47]
Emails released by the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] in April 2010, under a Freedom of Information Act request by the [[American Civil Liberties Union]], state that in November 2005 [[Jose A. Rodriguez Jr.|Jose Rodriguez]] told Goss and others he "felt it was extremely important to destroy the tapes and that if there was any heat, he would take it," and that Goss "laughed and said he'd be the one to take the heat." The same email states: "PG, however, agreed with the decision." NBC News reported that the email is an after-the-fact summary that does not prove Goss approved the destruction, that current and former intelligence officials have said he did not and was angry to find out, and that Rodriguez's lawyer disputed that.[^47] On November 9, 2010, the Justice Department said special prosecutor [[John Durham]] would not bring criminal charges over the destruction.[^48]
### Foreign Broadcast Information Service
The [[Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service]] became a unit of the agency in 1947. The [[War Department]] had sponsored the service from January 2, 1946, and the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] assumed control of it on July 31, 1946, before the [[National Security Act of 1947]] replaced the [[Central Intelligence Group]] with the agency.[^48] The administrative history of the service's record group lists the successor as "Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Central Intelligence Agency, 1947-."[^49] The service's 1969 history says it came to the agency "almost mature, trained and disciplined, and ready to plunge immediately into the tasks outlined for it."[^50]
The [[Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service]] became a unit of the agency in 1947. The [[War Department]] had sponsored the service from January 2, 1946, and the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] assumed control of it on July 31, 1946, before the [[National Security Act of 1947]] replaced the [[Central Intelligence Group]] with the agency.[^49] The administrative history of the service's record group lists the successor as "Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Central Intelligence Agency, 1947-."[^50] The service's 1969 history says it came to the agency "almost mature, trained and disciplined, and ready to plunge immediately into the tasks outlined for it."[^51]
Within the agency the service sat under the [[Assistant Director for Operations]]. In January 1947 the Assistant Director presented a propaganda analysis program to the PRC, approving the proposed program but excluding "interpretative analysis" from its scope, and the requested staff was twelve at $61,000 a year. [[Lawrence K. White]] was announced as deputy chief of the service on January 9, 1947.[^51]
Within the agency the service sat under the [[Assistant Director for Operations]]. In January 1947 the Assistant Director presented a propaganda analysis program to the PRC, approving the proposed program but excluding "interpretative analysis" from its scope, and the requested staff was twelve at $61,000 a year. [[Lawrence K. White]] was announced as deputy chief of the service on January 9, 1947.[^52]
The service's functions were folded into the [[Open Source Center]] in November 2005. The release announcing the center said the Director of the CIA would administer it on behalf of the DNI.[^52]
The service's functions were folded into the [[Open Source Center]] in November 2005. The release announcing the center said the Director of the CIA would administer it on behalf of the DNI.[^53]
### Psychological warfare liaison, 1946 to 1952
In July 1946 the Central Intelligence Group's Central Planning Staff closed out its liaison with the Security Advisory Board of the [[Office of War Information]]. The memorandum designated a liaison officer to the Director, charged him with recommending when appropriate whether the board should be placed under the [[National Intelligence Authority]], and recorded that no further action by the Security Branch was required. The board was being replaced by a new Security Advisory Board under the [[State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee]].[^53]
In July 1946 the Central Intelligence Group's Central Planning Staff closed out its liaison with the Security Advisory Board of the [[Office of War Information]]. The memorandum designated a liaison officer to the Director, charged him with recommending when appropriate whether the board should be placed under the [[National Intelligence Authority]], and recorded that no further action by the Security Branch was required. The board was being replaced by a new Security Advisory Board under the [[State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee]].[^54]
In July 1947 the Assistant Director of the Office of Research and Evaluation complained to the chief of the Group's Interdepartmental Coordinating and Planning Staff that the arrangement for the Group's seat on the coordinating committee's subcommittee for psychological warfare was "not operable." The principal member came from the [[Office of Special Operations]] and the alternate from the Office of Research and Evaluation, and the memorandum was addressed to the Executive Director.[^54]
In July 1947 the Assistant Director of the Office of Research and Evaluation complained to the chief of the Group's Interdepartmental Coordinating and Planning Staff that the arrangement for the Group's seat on the coordinating committee's subcommittee for psychological warfare was "not operable." The principal member came from the [[Office of Special Operations]] and the alternate from the Office of Research and Evaluation, and the memorandum was addressed to the Executive Director.[^55]
On January 10, 1952 the eighth meeting of the [[Psychological Strategy Board]] was chaired by [[Walter Bedell Smith]], the Director of Central Intelligence. Its members were the Deputy Secretary of Defense, William C. Foster, and the Under Secretary of State, James E. Webb. [[Edward W. Barrett]], Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, attended as a participant from the Department of State.[^55]
On January 10, 1952 the eighth meeting of the [[Psychological Strategy Board]] was chaired by [[Walter Bedell Smith]], the Director of Central Intelligence. Its members were the Deputy Secretary of Defense, William C. Foster, and the Under Secretary of State, James E. Webb. [[Edward W. Barrett]], Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, attended as a participant from the Department of State.[^56]
In a letter stamped January 30, 1951, [[Max Millikan]] wrote that he had "gone on leave from MIT to head up the Office of Research and Reports in this Agency."[^56] On October 29, 1951 he wrote to a prospective recruit that for "the last nine or ten months" he had been "trying to put together for General Smith an organization to do economic research."[^57] A memorandum of conversation dated January 22, 1951 lists "Dr. Max Millikan, Central Intelligence Agency" among the participants in a discussion with State Department officers of psychological intelligence, and records his concern that splitting that work among several organizations would produce the shortcomings of decentralization.[^58] A memorandum of March 6, 1951, addressed to the intelligence chiefs of the State Department, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, was issued "For the Director of Central Intelligence" over Millikan's typed name as Assistant Director, Research and Reports.[^59] A letter he signed as Assistant Director on November 26, 1951 says that "Walt Rostow at the Center for International Studies has sought my assistance in finding him someone to help out with some research."[^60] A letter of March 3, 1952 addresses him as Special Consultant, Central Intelligence Agency.[^61] In an interview note of March 5, 1952 titled "Origin of PSB," a CIA historian recorded that Millikan "participated in a 'contract study,' State and MIT," which the note identifies as the "Troy Project," and that its study "had considerable to do with the creation of the PSB."[^62]
In a letter stamped January 30, 1951, [[Max Millikan]] wrote that he had "gone on leave from MIT to head up the Office of Research and Reports in this Agency."[^57] On October 29, 1951 he wrote to a prospective recruit that for "the last nine or ten months" he had been "trying to put together for General Smith an organization to do economic research."[^58] A memorandum of conversation dated January 22, 1951 lists "Dr. Max Millikan, Central Intelligence Agency" among the participants in a discussion with State Department officers of psychological intelligence, and records his concern that splitting that work among several organizations would produce the shortcomings of decentralization.[^59] A memorandum of March 6, 1951, addressed to the intelligence chiefs of the State Department, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, was issued "For the Director of Central Intelligence" over Millikan's typed name as Assistant Director, Research and Reports.[^60] A letter he signed as Assistant Director on November 26, 1951 says that "Walt Rostow at the Center for International Studies has sought my assistance in finding him someone to help out with some research."[^61] A letter of March 3, 1952 addresses him as Special Consultant, Central Intelligence Agency.[^62] In an interview note of March 5, 1952 titled "Origin of PSB," a CIA historian recorded that Millikan "participated in a 'contract study,' State and MIT," which the note identifies as the "Troy Project," and that its study "had considerable to do with the creation of the PSB."[^63]
The agency's financing of the [[Center for International Studies]] at MIT is recorded in several places. [[Patrick Oster]] reported in the Washington Post of September 11, 1977 that the agency "secretly financed a research project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in order to gain data on how to turn Russian scientists into CIA agents," as part of "Project MK-ULTRA," with a foundation as a "front," and that the researcher was affiliated with MIT's Center for International Studies, "which was set up in 1951 with CIA money and had as its first director Max F. Millikan, a former assistant director of the agency."[^63] Time reported on February 24, 1967 "directly and without masquerade" "$300,000 to finance M.I.T.'s topflight Center for International Studies," and that MIT then "terminated the contract 'for practical, not moral reasons.'"[^64] [[Andreas Lowenfeld]], of the State Department's Office of Legal Adviser, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Internal Security Subcommittee, said of the center in 1951 and 1952: "they had some kind of contract with the CIA," and, asked whether he knew it was a CIA operation, "I was never formally told, but it became apparent."[^65]
The agency's financing of the [[Center for International Studies]] at MIT is recorded in several places. [[Patrick Oster]] reported in the Washington Post of September 11, 1977 that the agency "secretly financed a research project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in order to gain data on how to turn Russian scientists into CIA agents," as part of "Project MK-ULTRA," with a foundation as a "front," and that the researcher was affiliated with MIT's Center for International Studies, "which was set up in 1951 with CIA money and had as its first director Max F. Millikan, a former assistant director of the agency."[^64] Time reported on February 24, 1967 "directly and without masquerade" "$300,000 to finance M.I.T.'s topflight Center for International Studies," and that MIT then "terminated the contract 'for practical, not moral reasons.'"[^65] [[Andreas Lowenfeld]], of the State Department's Office of Legal Adviser, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Internal Security Subcommittee, said of the center in 1951 and 1952: "they had some kind of contract with the CIA," and, asked whether he knew it was a CIA operation, "I was never formally told, but it became apparent."[^66]
The third progress report on NSC 59/1 records that the CIA had been assigned a continuing study of balloons as propaganda carriers and "instructed to stockpile one thousand large-sized propaganda balloons of the best type presently available."[^66] The [[Project Troy]] report had placed balloon work inside political warfare, stating that "The balloon problem is a part of political warfare. It cannot be handled by a separate balloon shop."[^67]
The third progress report on NSC 59/1 records that the CIA had been assigned a continuing study of balloons as propaganda carriers and "instructed to stockpile one thousand large-sized propaganda balloons of the best type presently available."[^67] The [[Project Troy]] report had placed balloon work inside political warfare, stating that "The balloon problem is a part of political warfare. It cannot be handled by a separate balloon shop."[^68]
In February 1961 [[Allen Dulles|Allen W. Dulles]] wrote to Millikan, then director of the center, that he was "very deeply interested in the proposal in your letter of January 23," and expected to attend at least part of the meetings of May 18 to 21, 1961, at which the center would review its first ten years.[^68]
In February 1961 [[Allen Dulles|Allen W. Dulles]] wrote to Millikan, then director of the center, that he was "very deeply interested in the proposal in your letter of January 23," and expected to attend at least part of the meetings of May 18 to 21, 1961, at which the center would review its first ten years.[^69]
A CIA document titled "Principles Governing Budgetary Relationships Between CENIS and CIA" describes an annual contract under which research projects were "mutually agreed upon case by case" between the agency and the Center for International Studies, within an annual authorization of $500,000. The document is undated.[^69] A CIA list of recipients of Office of Research and Reports unclassified studies names Max Millikan, [[Walt Rostow]], [[Wilfred Malenbaum]], [[Everett Hagen]], [[Evsey Domar]] and [[Thomas Schelling]], each listed under the Center for International Studies.[^70] A CIA memorandum dated February 16, 1959, forwarding a [[National Review]] Bulletin item, carries the item's text stating that [[Richard Bissell]] and [[Robert Amory]] "lean ideologically on CIA's outriding auxiliary at MIT, the Center for International Studies," and that they have been influenced by the theories of "W. W. Rostow, director of the Center."[^71] The MIT President's report for 1962 to 1963 refers to "Max F. Millikan, Director of the Center for International Studies."[^72] A CIA Office of Legislative Counsel journal entry of March 3, 1967 records that "the Agency has Senator Fulbright's letter concerning a Center for International Studies, MIT, and is preparing a response."[^73]
A CIA document titled "Principles Governing Budgetary Relationships Between CENIS and CIA" describes an annual contract under which research projects were "mutually agreed upon case by case" between the agency and the Center for International Studies, within an annual authorization of $500,000. The document is undated.[^70] A CIA list of recipients of Office of Research and Reports unclassified studies names Max Millikan, [[Walt Rostow]], [[Wilfred Malenbaum]], [[Everett Hagen]], [[Evsey Domar]] and [[Thomas Schelling]], each listed under the Center for International Studies.[^71] A CIA memorandum dated February 16, 1959, forwarding a [[National Review]] Bulletin item, carries the item's text stating that [[Richard Bissell]] and [[Robert Amory]] "lean ideologically on CIA's outriding auxiliary at MIT, the Center for International Studies," and that they have been influenced by the theories of "W. W. Rostow, director of the Center."[^72] The MIT President's report for 1962 to 1963 refers to "Max F. Millikan, Director of the Center for International Studies."[^73] A CIA Office of Legislative Counsel journal entry of March 3, 1967 records that "the Agency has Senator Fulbright's letter concerning a Center for International Studies, MIT, and is preparing a response."[^74]
### Footnotes
@ -234,38 +234,39 @@ A CIA document titled "Principles Governing Budgetary Relationships Between CENI
[^36]: CREST Senior Review Panel memoranda CIA-RDP93T00837R000400110005-3 (NIC-03024-87, September 1, 1987), CIA-RDP93T01222R000100010013-9 (NIC-03595-87, September 8, 1987), CIA-RDP92T00306R000300090020-0 (September 24, 1987), CIA-RDP93T00451R000300080006-5 (NIC-04228-87, October 22, 1987) and CIA-RDP93T00451R000400110014-1 (December 1, 1987). https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp93t00837r000400110005-3, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp93t01222r000100010013-9, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp92t00306r000300090020-0, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp93t00451r000300080006-5, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp93t00451r000400110014-1
[^37]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Prologue and Chapter 5: "God, Fatherland and Freedom"
[^38]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 5: "God, Fatherland and Freedom"
[^39]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Epilogue: "The damage that has been done"
[^40]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 13: "The wrong kind of friends"
[^41]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Chapter X, part 2, section C.2 (Carlos Amador: CIA cables of April 23 and April 25, 1986). https://oig.justice.gov/special/9712/ch10p2.htm
[^42]: Congressional Record, Senate, September 22, 2004, Rollcall Vote No. 187 (yeas 77, nays 17). https://irp.fas.org/congress/2004_cr/goss092204.html ; "Porter Goss Sworn in As New CIA Director," PBS NewsHour, September 24, 2004 (sworn in by Andrew Card in the Oval Office). https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/government_programs-july-dec04-cia_09-24 ; Norris, "Goss Is Latest to Leave Bush Administration," NPR transcript, May 5, 2006. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/5387220
[^43]: JURIST, "FBI probes CIA defense contracts after top official resigns," May 2006 (FBI probe of Foggo's possible help to ADCS). https://www.jurist.org/news/2006/05/fbi-probes-cia-defense-contracts-after ; Paul Blumenthal, "MSNBC: Foggo Gone," Sunlight Foundation, May 8, 2006 (resignation reported Monday). https://sunlightfoundation.com/2006/05/08/msnbc-foggo-gone/
[^44]: NBC News, "Ex-CIA executive gets 37 months in prison," February 26, 2009 (one count of fraud, 27 counts dropped, Judge James Cacheris, 37 months as requested). https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna29413971 ; Associated Press, "CIA officer gets jail time for fraud," Philadelphia Inquirer, February 27, 2009. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/nation_world/20090227_CIA_officer_gets_jail_time_for_fraud.html
[^45]: Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate, Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program, S. Rept. 113-288 (December 2014), executive summary and findings, sections on the 2005 videotapes ("The CIA destroyed the CIA interrogation videotapes the following day"; Rizzo's October 31, 2005 email). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/CRPT-113srpt288.pdf
[^46]: NBC News, "Ex-CIA chief agreed with tape destruction," April 2010 (e-mails released by the Justice Department under an ACLU FOIA request; "PG, however, agreed with the decision"; the disputed account). https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna36589750
[^47]: JURIST, "No charges to be filed in CIA videotape destruction case: DOJ," November 2010 (spokesman Matthew Miller on Durham's decision; Durham appointed 2008 by Attorney General Michael Mukasey). https://www.jurist.org/news/2010/11/no-charges-to-be-filed-in-cia-videotape-destruction-case/
[^48]: Joseph E. Roop, "Foreign Broadcast Information Service. History. Part I: 1941-1947" (Central Intelligence Agency, approved for release April 1969), pp. 279, 299-300 and 303. https://archive.org/details/ForeignBroadcastInformationServiceHistoryPart11941-1947.
[^49]: National Archives and Records Administration, Guide to Federal Records, Record Group 262, administrative history. https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/262.html.
[^50]: Roop, Part I, p. 2. https://archive.org/details/ForeignBroadcastInformationServiceHistoryPart11941-1947.
[^51]: Roop, Part II (CIA Directorate of Intelligence, August 1970), pp. 2 and 151-152. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-06741690.
[^52]: Office of the Director of National Intelligence, "ODNI Announces Establishment of Open Source Center," News Release No. 6-05, November 8, 2005. https://irp.fas.org/news/2005/11/odni110805.html.
[^53]: Central Intelligence Group, Central Planning Staff, memorandum "Liquidation of Security Advisory Board, OWI (C.I.G. Liaison with New Security Advisory Board under SWNCC)," July 22, 1946. CIA reading room copy, CIA-RDP78-04007A000300040024-9. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp78-04007a000300040024-9
[^54]: Central Intelligence Group, Chief, ICAPS, to the Executive Director, memorandum "CIG Membership on SWNCC Subcommittee for Psychological Warfare," July 21, 1947. CIA reading room copy, CIA-RDP84-00022R000400100046-0. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp84-00022r000400100046-0
[^55]: Central Intelligence Agency, Minutes of the Eighth Meeting of the Psychological Strategy Board (PSB M-8), January 10, 1952, membership and other participants. CIA reading room copy, CIA-RDP80-01065A000500100033-6. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp80-01065a000500100033-6
[^56]: Max F. Millikan, letter stamped January 30, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80R01731R003100150032-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r003100150032-1
[^57]: Max F. Millikan, letter of October 29, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP79-01157A000200020002-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp79-01157a000200020002-2
[^58]: CIA, memorandum of conversation, "Psychological Intelligence," January 22, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80R01731R003500180026-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r003500180026-1
[^59]: CIA, "Report of Intelligence Project Initiations, February 1951," memorandum of March 6, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP60-00213A000200030008-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp60-00213a000200030008-3
[^60]: Max F. Millikan, letter of November 26, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80R01731R003000200096-6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r003000200096-6
[^61]: Stuart A. Rice, Assistant Director for Statistical Standards, Bureau of the Budget, letter to Max F. Millikan, March 3, 1952, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00662R000300120004-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00662r000300120004-5
[^62]: A. B. Darling, note of interview with Max Millikan, "Origin of PSB," March 5, 1952, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP83-00036R000400050039-0. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp83-00036r000400050039-0
[^63]: Patrick Oster, "CIA Envisioned Soviet Scientists as U.S. Agents," Chicago Sun-Times, reprinted in the Washington Post, September 11, 1977, p. A-9, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP88-01315R000400460003-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01315r000400460003-8
[^64]: Time, February 24, 1967, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210135-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84-00161r000400210135-8
[^65]: U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Internal Security Subcommittee, extracts from hearings (Part 3) on State Department security and passport regulations, testimony of Andreas F. Lowenfeld, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00149R000400560007-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00149r000400560007-3
[^66]: FRUS, The Intelligence Community, 1950-1955, Document 57 (third progress report on NSC 59/1), paragraph 12. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d57
[^67]: CIA reading room document CIA-RDP79S01011A000900030019-8, excerpt of the Project Troy report to the Secretary of State, February 1, 1951 (balloon chapter). https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP79S01011A000900030019-8
[^68]: Allen W. Dulles, letter to Max F. Millikan, February 27, 1961, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80B01676R003500160028-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r003500160028-9
[^69]: CIA, "Principles Governing Budgetary Relationships Between CENIS and CIA" (undated; released 2000), CIA reading room document CIA-RDP67-00059A000200090016-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp67-00059a000200090016-2
[^70]: CIA, "Recipients for ORR Unclassified Studies" (undated list), CIA reading room document CIA-RDP63-00314R000100180007-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp63-00314r000100180007-7
[^71]: CIA memorandum from the Assistant to the Director, February 16, 1959, forwarding a National Review Bulletin item, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00001R000100260064-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00001r000100260064-9
[^72]: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, President's Report Issue for the year ending July 1, 1963, p. 165, MIT Libraries, DSpace. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/160055
[^73]: CIA Office of Legislative Counsel, journal entry, "Friday, 3 March 1967," CIA reading room document CIA-RDP69B00369R000200020044-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp69b00369r000200020044-4
[^39]: CIA Office of Inspector General, Report of Investigation Concerning Allegations of Connections Between CIA and the Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States, Volume I, January 29, 1998, findings on Carlos Cabezas and "Ivan Gomez." https://irp.fas.org/cia/product/cocaine/findings2.html
[^40]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Epilogue: "The damage that has been done"
[^41]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 13: "The wrong kind of friends"
[^42]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Chapter X, part 2, section C.2 (Carlos Amador: CIA cables of April 23 and April 25, 1986). https://oig.justice.gov/special/9712/ch10p2.htm
[^43]: Congressional Record, Senate, September 22, 2004, Rollcall Vote No. 187 (yeas 77, nays 17). https://irp.fas.org/congress/2004_cr/goss092204.html ; "Porter Goss Sworn in As New CIA Director," PBS NewsHour, September 24, 2004 (sworn in by Andrew Card in the Oval Office). https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/government_programs-july-dec04-cia_09-24 ; Norris, "Goss Is Latest to Leave Bush Administration," NPR transcript, May 5, 2006. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/5387220
[^44]: JURIST, "FBI probes CIA defense contracts after top official resigns," May 2006 (FBI probe of Foggo's possible help to ADCS). https://www.jurist.org/news/2006/05/fbi-probes-cia-defense-contracts-after ; Paul Blumenthal, "MSNBC: Foggo Gone," Sunlight Foundation, May 8, 2006 (resignation reported Monday). https://sunlightfoundation.com/2006/05/08/msnbc-foggo-gone/
[^45]: NBC News, "Ex-CIA executive gets 37 months in prison," February 26, 2009 (one count of fraud, 27 counts dropped, Judge James Cacheris, 37 months as requested). https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna29413971 ; Associated Press, "CIA officer gets jail time for fraud," Philadelphia Inquirer, February 27, 2009. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/nation_world/20090227_CIA_officer_gets_jail_time_for_fraud.html
[^46]: Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate, Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program, S. Rept. 113-288 (December 2014), executive summary and findings, sections on the 2005 videotapes ("The CIA destroyed the CIA interrogation videotapes the following day"; Rizzo's October 31, 2005 email). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/CRPT-113srpt288.pdf
[^47]: NBC News, "Ex-CIA chief agreed with tape destruction," April 2010 (e-mails released by the Justice Department under an ACLU FOIA request; "PG, however, agreed with the decision"; the disputed account). https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna36589750
[^48]: JURIST, "No charges to be filed in CIA videotape destruction case: DOJ," November 2010 (spokesman Matthew Miller on Durham's decision; Durham appointed 2008 by Attorney General Michael Mukasey). https://www.jurist.org/news/2010/11/no-charges-to-be-filed-in-cia-videotape-destruction-case/
[^49]: Joseph E. Roop, "Foreign Broadcast Information Service. History. Part I: 1941-1947" (Central Intelligence Agency, approved for release April 1969), pp. 279, 299-300 and 303. https://archive.org/details/ForeignBroadcastInformationServiceHistoryPart11941-1947.
[^50]: National Archives and Records Administration, Guide to Federal Records, Record Group 262, administrative history. https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/262.html.
[^51]: Roop, Part I, p. 2. https://archive.org/details/ForeignBroadcastInformationServiceHistoryPart11941-1947.
[^52]: Roop, Part II (CIA Directorate of Intelligence, August 1970), pp. 2 and 151-152. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-06741690.
[^53]: Office of the Director of National Intelligence, "ODNI Announces Establishment of Open Source Center," News Release No. 6-05, November 8, 2005. https://irp.fas.org/news/2005/11/odni110805.html.
[^54]: Central Intelligence Group, Central Planning Staff, memorandum "Liquidation of Security Advisory Board, OWI (C.I.G. Liaison with New Security Advisory Board under SWNCC)," July 22, 1946. CIA reading room copy, CIA-RDP78-04007A000300040024-9. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp78-04007a000300040024-9
[^55]: Central Intelligence Group, Chief, ICAPS, to the Executive Director, memorandum "CIG Membership on SWNCC Subcommittee for Psychological Warfare," July 21, 1947. CIA reading room copy, CIA-RDP84-00022R000400100046-0. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp84-00022r000400100046-0
[^56]: Central Intelligence Agency, Minutes of the Eighth Meeting of the Psychological Strategy Board (PSB M-8), January 10, 1952, membership and other participants. CIA reading room copy, CIA-RDP80-01065A000500100033-6. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp80-01065a000500100033-6
[^57]: Max F. Millikan, letter stamped January 30, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80R01731R003100150032-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r003100150032-1
[^58]: Max F. Millikan, letter of October 29, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP79-01157A000200020002-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp79-01157a000200020002-2
[^59]: CIA, memorandum of conversation, "Psychological Intelligence," January 22, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80R01731R003500180026-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r003500180026-1
[^60]: CIA, "Report of Intelligence Project Initiations, February 1951," memorandum of March 6, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP60-00213A000200030008-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp60-00213a000200030008-3
[^61]: Max F. Millikan, letter of November 26, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80R01731R003000200096-6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r003000200096-6
[^62]: Stuart A. Rice, Assistant Director for Statistical Standards, Bureau of the Budget, letter to Max F. Millikan, March 3, 1952, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00662R000300120004-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00662r000300120004-5
[^63]: A. B. Darling, note of interview with Max Millikan, "Origin of PSB," March 5, 1952, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP83-00036R000400050039-0. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp83-00036r000400050039-0
[^64]: Patrick Oster, "CIA Envisioned Soviet Scientists as U.S. Agents," Chicago Sun-Times, reprinted in the Washington Post, September 11, 1977, p. A-9, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP88-01315R000400460003-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01315r000400460003-8
[^65]: Time, February 24, 1967, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210135-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84-00161r000400210135-8
[^66]: U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Internal Security Subcommittee, extracts from hearings (Part 3) on State Department security and passport regulations, testimony of Andreas F. Lowenfeld, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00149R000400560007-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00149r000400560007-3
[^67]: FRUS, The Intelligence Community, 1950-1955, Document 57 (third progress report on NSC 59/1), paragraph 12. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d57
[^68]: CIA reading room document CIA-RDP79S01011A000900030019-8, excerpt of the Project Troy report to the Secretary of State, February 1, 1951 (balloon chapter). https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP79S01011A000900030019-8
[^69]: Allen W. Dulles, letter to Max F. Millikan, February 27, 1961, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80B01676R003500160028-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r003500160028-9
[^70]: CIA, "Principles Governing Budgetary Relationships Between CENIS and CIA" (undated; released 2000), CIA reading room document CIA-RDP67-00059A000200090016-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp67-00059a000200090016-2
[^71]: CIA, "Recipients for ORR Unclassified Studies" (undated list), CIA reading room document CIA-RDP63-00314R000100180007-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp63-00314r000100180007-7
[^72]: CIA memorandum from the Assistant to the Director, February 16, 1959, forwarding a National Review Bulletin item, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00001R000100260064-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00001r000100260064-9
[^73]: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, President's Report Issue for the year ending July 1, 1963, p. 165, MIT Libraries, DSpace. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/160055
[^74]: CIA Office of Legislative Counsel, journal entry, "Friday, 3 March 1967," CIA reading room document CIA-RDP69B00369R000200020044-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp69b00369r000200020044-4

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created: 2025-07-23
updated: 2025-08-04
updated: 2026-10-14
title: State Department
aliases:
- U.S. Department of State
@ -21,34 +21,41 @@ The [[State Department]] serves as the federal executive department responsible
### Middle East Policy and the Osirak Incident
In June 1981, following Israel's bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at [[Osirak bombing]], the State Department issued a formal condemnation. This public stance contradicted President [[Ronald Reagan]]'s private acceptance of the raid.[^2]
In June 1981, following Israel's bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at [[Osirak bombing]], the State Department issued a formal condemnation. This public stance contradicted President [[Ronald Reagan]]'s private acceptance of the raid.[^1]
### The Moscow Signal Cover-Up
The State Department played a central role in managing the U.S. government's response to the [[Moscow Signal]], establishing a classified program code-named the [[Moscow Viral Study]] to secretly conduct genetic testing on embassy personnel. Embassy employees were deliberately misled about the testing's purpose. The department publicly minimized the dangers despite scientific concerns.[^3]
The State Department played a central role in managing the U.S. government's response to the [[Moscow Signal]], establishing a classified program code-named the [[Moscow Viral Study]] to secretly conduct genetic testing on embassy personnel. Embassy employees were deliberately misled about the testing's purpose. The department publicly minimized the dangers despite scientific concerns.[^2]
### BCCI Banking Scandal Involvement
Beginning in 1983, the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] started distributing intelligence about the criminal activities of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] to the State Department.[^5] By September 1986, the State Department had access to a CIA report indicating BCCI had owned [[First American Bank]] since 1982.[^4] Rather than pursuing criminal allegations, the department silenced [[Paula Hawkins]] and worked to protect BCCI's operations.[^6]
Beginning in 1983, the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] started distributing intelligence about the criminal activities of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] to the State Department.[^3] By September 1986, the State Department had access to a CIA report indicating BCCI had owned [[First American Bank]] since 1982.[^4] Rather than pursuing criminal allegations, the department silenced [[Paula Hawkins]] and worked to protect BCCI's operations.[^5]
### Odyssey Network Evidence Destruction
The State Department under Secretary of State [[Henry Kissinger]] received over 30,000 index cards containing client names from [[John David Norman]]'s child trafficking operation in 1973 and subsequently destroyed them, preventing further investigation.[^7]
The Dallas police turned over three cartons of index cards from the [[Odyssey Network]] investigation to the department's Dallas resident agent on December 12, 1974, according to a department letter to Senator [[John C. Culver]] dated June 27, 1977. The department was then headed by Secretary of State [[Henry Kissinger]]. The letter describes the cartons as containing "several thousand 3x5 cards." The cartons reached Washington on January 2, 1975, and were placed in storage until September 1975. After a review under the Privacy Act of 1974 that began on September 27, 1975, the letter states, the cards were "determined not to qualify as records relevant to the Department's statutory purpose and were destroyed."[^6]
The writer S. Dovey wrote that the department received over 30,000 index cards containing client names from [[John David Norman]]'s operation in 1973 and destroyed them.[^7] The Tribune quoted Lieutenant [[Harold Hancock]] of the Dallas police as saying he had seized more than 30,000 index cards from Norman, some listing prominent people and federal employees in Washington, and had sent them to the department. It quoted [[Matthew Nimetz]], a counselor for the department, as saying the cards "were not relevant to any fraud case concerning a passport" and had therefore been destroyed, and reported that Nimetz could not explain why the department had looked at the cards only for passport irregularities or why it had not turned them over to the FBI or postal inspectors.[^8] [[George Bliss]] testified before the Senate subcommittee in Chicago on May 27, 1977, that the department had shredded 35,000 cards in 1974.[^9] The New York Times reported on August 16, 1973, that the Dallas police put the catalogue files seized from the Odyssey Foundation at 50,000 to 100,000 names.[^10]
The letter states that two individuals in the Dallas card files appeared to have department affiliation, that the security files of two employees with similar names were examined, and that no formal investigation was started because the information was considered insufficient.[^6]
### Dark Alliance Investigation
The State Department granted [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] political asylum in 1984 despite the [[DEA]] having identified him as a major cocaine trafficker since 1983. It is State Department policy to check with the DEA before approving asylum applications. When the [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Justice Department's Inspector General]] examined Blandón's immigration records, he found them "in disarray." The same occurred with Blandón's wife [[Chepita Blandon|Chepita]], granted asylum in 1985 despite being reported as a "member of a cocaine distribution organization."[^8]
The State Department granted [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] political asylum in 1984 despite the [[DEA]] having identified him as a major cocaine trafficker since 1983. It is State Department policy to check with the DEA before approving asylum applications. When the [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Justice Department's Inspector General]] examined Blandón's immigration records, he found them "in disarray." The same occurred with Blandón's wife [[Chepita Blandon|Chepita]], granted asylum in 1985 despite being reported as a "member of a cocaine distribution organization."[^11]
The State Department's Office of Public Diplomacy for [[Latin America]] was described by a 1992 House committee report as "a domestic, covert operation designed to lobby the Congress, manipulate the media and influence domestic public opinion" regarding the Contra war. The State Department issued a White Paper on Contra drug allegations that belittled every claim except those involving the [[Sandinistas]], studiously avoiding any mention of [[Norwin Meneses]].[^9]
The State Department's Office of Public Diplomacy for [[Latin America]] was described by a 1992 House committee report as "a domestic, covert operation designed to lobby the Congress, manipulate the media and influence domestic public opinion" regarding the Contra war. The State Department issued a White Paper on Contra drug allegations that belittled every claim except those involving the [[Sandinistas]], studiously avoiding any mention of [[Norwin Meneses]].[^12]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
[^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991.
[^3]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991.
[^2]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^3]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank*. Random House, 1993, p. 366.
[^4]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 12.
[^5]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank*. Random House, 1993, p. 366.
[^6]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank*. Random House, 1993, p. 363.
[^5]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank*. Random House, 1993, p. 363.
[^6]: Letter from Douglas J. Bennett Jr., Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations, U.S. Department of State, to Sen. John C. Culver, June 27, 1977, reprinted in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, hearings, Chicago, May 27, 1977, p. 120. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^7]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
[^8]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it"
[^9]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 15 and Chapter 9
[^8]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, hearings, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 435. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^9]: Testimony of George Bliss, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, Chicago, May 27, 1977, p. 58. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^10]: "Alleged Homosexual Ring Found in a Raid on Apartment in Dallas," *New York Times*, August 16, 1973, p. 16. https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/16/archives/alleged-homosexual-ring-found-in-a-raid-on-apartment-in-dallass.html
[^11]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it"
[^12]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 15 and Chapter 9

19
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Odyssey Foundation.md
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@ -9,12 +9,25 @@ tags:
category: "Private Organization"
summary: "The Odyssey Foundation was the legal front entity for John David Norman's Odyssey Network trafficking operation, operating from Dallas, Texas."
location: "Dallas, Texas, USA"
updated: 2026-10-14
---
The Odyssey Foundation was the legal front entity for [[John David Norman]]'s [[Odyssey Network]] trafficking operation, operating from Dallas, Texas. The foundation was connected to [[Educational Foundation for Youth]] in Illinois, which derived tax-exempt status as a subsidiary of offshore companies. Through these front organizations, Norman operated a nationwide system of "sponsors" who provided housing for boys in exchange for sexual access, creating an interlocking web spanning multiple states. The Odyssey Foundation was linked to [[Francis Shelden]]'s [[North Fox Island]] operation through shared sponsors and the [[Hermes]] newsletter.[^1]
The Odyssey Foundation was the legal front entity for [[John David Norman]]'s [[Odyssey Network]] trafficking operation, operating from Dallas, Texas. The writer S. Dovey wrote that the foundation was connected to [[Educational Foundation for Youth]] in Illinois, which derived tax-exempt status as a subsidiary of offshore companies. The Traverse City Record-Eagle reported that a Chicago Secretary of State clerk described the Educational Foundation for Youth as "a non-profit arm of a profit-making corporation," an import-export business incorporated in 1962 and involuntarily dissolved in 1975 for failure to pay state franchise taxes, and that the Illinois Secretary of State's Springfield office had no record of the foundation.[^1] Through these front organizations, Norman operated a nationwide system of "sponsors" who provided housing for boys in exchange for sexual access, creating an interlocking web spanning multiple states. Dovey wrote that the Odyssey Foundation was linked to [[Francis Shelden]]'s [[North Fox Island]] operation through shared sponsors and the [[Hermes]] newsletter.[^2] The Record-Eagle reprint names Shelden as the owner of North Fox Island and as a figure whom Gerald Richards connected to the camp.[^1]
### Dallas Investigation, 1973
The Dallas police announced on August 15, 1973, that a raid the previous evening had uncovered the Odyssey Foundation, which operated with a San Diego post office box and the Epic International name. Membership cost $15 a year plus $3 for the booklets, the young men were called "fellows" and the clients "sponsors," and the police put the catalogue files at 50,000 to 100,000 names. A spokesman for [[Odyssey House]] of New York said it had no connection with the group.[^3] The writer [[Robin Lloyd]] wrote in 1976 that a suspected connection with the Houston murders, later proved incorrect, shut the foundation down before it got started.[^4]
A letter from the State Department to Senator [[John C. Culver]] dated June 27, 1977, says the department's Los Angeles security office reported the Dallas investigation in August 1973, describing a ring that used the name "Odyssey Foundation" to supply young males to people responding to its solicitations. On August 23, 1973, the Dallas police asked for passport information about a juvenile travelling in Europe under the foundation's auspices.[^5] A Homewood, Illinois, police supplementary report dated November 5, 1973, describes an adult recruited by mail into Epic International, which the report places in Dallas, and states that four checks totaling $662 were mailed to a post office box in Dallas.[^6]
### Connection to The Finders
When the two [[The Finders|Finders]] members arrested in Tallahassee, Florida in February 1987 were found transporting six malnourished children, an address book in their possession contained names that appeared in FBI Dallas field office file 145-0 relating to the Odyssey Foundation's child prostitution investigation. This address-book overlap, documented in FBI records cited in secondary sources and referenced in the FBI Vault's November 2019 Finders document release, represents the primary documented link between the two operations. No direct organizational relationship or personal contact between Norman and [[The Finders]]' leadership has been established in accessible primary sources.[^1]
When the two [[The Finders|Finders]] members arrested in Tallahassee, Florida in February 1987 were found transporting six malnourished children, an address book in their possession contained names that appeared in FBI Dallas field office file 145-0 relating to the Odyssey Foundation's child prostitution investigation. This address-book overlap, documented in FBI records cited in secondary sources and referenced in the FBI Vault's November 2019 Finders document release, represents the primary documented link between the two operations. No direct organizational relationship or personal contact between Norman and The Finders' leadership has been established in accessible primary sources.[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
[^1]: Traverse City Record-Eagle, "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws," by Marilyn Wright, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^2]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
[^3]: "Alleged Homosexual Ring Found in a Raid on Apartment in Dallas," *New York Times*, August 16, 1973, p. 16. https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/16/archives/alleged-homosexual-ring-found-in-a-raid-on-apartment-in-dallass.html
[^4]: Robin Lloyd, *For Money or Love: Boy Prostitution in America* (1976), p. 80. https://archive.org/details/formoneyorlovebo0000lloy
[^5]: Letter from Douglas J. Bennett Jr., Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations, U.S. Department of State, to Sen. John C. Culver, June 27, 1977, in U.S. Senate, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, hearings, p. 120. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^6]: Homewood, Illinois, Police Department, Supplementary Investigation Report, Case No. 20228, dated November 5, 1973, first page. https://archive.org/details/JohnNorman_HomewoodPD

153
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Odyssey Network.md
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@ -1,41 +1,162 @@
---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- Criminal_Organization
- Child_Trafficking
- Intelligence_Operation
- Dallas
- Chicago
- Texas
- Illinois
- 1970s
- Odyssey_Network
category: "Private Organization"
summary: "The Odyssey Network was a sophisticated child trafficking and prostitution operation based in Dallas, Texas, during the 1970s."
location: "Dallas, Texas, USA"
- Delta_Project
- Hermes
- Congressional_Hearings
- State_Department_Card_File
summary: "The Odyssey Network was a boy-prostitution and pornography enterprise that John David Norman ran under several names from Dallas and then Chicago between 1973 and 1977."
location: "Dallas, Texas, USA; Chicago, Illinois, USA"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[John David Norman]]"
role: "operator of the network under the Odyssey Foundation and Delta Project names; police described him as its mastermind"
start: 1973
fn: 15
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Phillip Paske]]"
role: "closest associate; kept the Delta Project running while Norman was in prison"
start: 1976
fn: 16
- type: investigated
with: "[[Dallas Police Department]]"
reverse: true
start: 1973
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Internal Revenue Service]]"
reverse: true
start: 1973
end: 1973
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Homewood Police Department]]"
reverse: true
start: 1973
fn: 11
- type: investigated
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
reverse: true
start: 1976
fn: 18
created: 2026-04-28
updated: 2026-10-14
---
### Overview
The Odyssey Network is the name this vault gives to a boy-prostitution and pornography enterprise run by [[John David Norman]], who operated from [[Dallas, Texas]] until mid-1973 and from the Chicago area afterward. According to police in [[Chicago, Illinois]], [[Los Angeles]] and Dallas, as the [[Chicago Tribune]] reported in 1977, Norman was the operator of a series of organizations supplying boy prostitutes to male clients, among them the [[Odyssey Foundation]], the Norman Foundation, Epic International and the [[Delta Project]].[^1]
The Odyssey Network was a sophisticated child trafficking and prostitution operation based in Dallas, Texas, during the 1970s. Led by [[John David Norman]], the network operated as part of a larger international system for the exploitation of children, coordinating with similar operations across the United States and Europe.[^1]
### Dallas, 1973
### Organization and Operations
The [[Dallas Police Department]] announced on August 15, 1973, that a raid the previous evening on an apartment in the city had uncovered a nationwide procurement ring operating under the name Odyssey Foundation, with a San Diego, California, post office box. Lieutenant [[Harold Hancock]] of the Intelligence Division led the search, which the police said produced catalogue files with the names and addresses of 50,000 to 100,000 people, booklets with the pictures and names of teenage and young adult males, a camera, photo-engraving equipment and stationery bearing the name Epic International. Captain Bennie M. Newman of the Youth Division said membership was sold at $15 a year with a $3 fee for the booklets, that the young men were called "fellows" and the clients "sponsors," and that the fellows travelled the country staying with sponsors who paid their air fare to the next city. The police named the alleged leader as John Paul Norman, 45, who was freed on $7,000 bond after narcotics charges based on marijuana found in the apartment. They said he had been arrested in Houston in 1954 and 1956 on sexual assault charges and had California convictions from 1963 and, on a federal charge of sending obscene literature through the mail, 1971. Assistant Chief Donald Steele said postal inspectors and the [[Internal Revenue Service]] had entered the investigation. Captain Newman said there was no immediate evidence linking the operation to the Houston murders. A spokesman for [[Odyssey House]], a New York drug rehabilitation program, said it had no connection with the group.[^2]
The network, also referred to as "The Delta Project," operated through a system of "sponsors" who would provide housing and support for young boys in exchange for sexual access. These sponsors were connected through newsletters and personal contacts, creating an interlocking web of vice that spanned multiple states.[^1]
The writer [[Robin Lloyd]] wrote in 1976 that a suspected connection with the Houston murders, later proved incorrect, shut down the Odyssey Foundation in Dallas before it got started, and that sponsors were selected from a master list of 50,000 prospects and sent a booklet called "Fellows 1973."[^3] The author Clifford Linedecker wrote in 1981 that the investigation did not link Norman to the Houston slayings, and that a check of his background showed an earlier operation in several California cities, using a San Diego post office box under the names "Norman Foundation" and "Epic International."[^4]
[[John David Norman]] managed the operation from Dallas while serving a prison sentence, with his closest associate [[Phillip Paske]] carrying out day-to-day operations. The network used coded language and front organizations to facilitate their activities, including educational foundations and religious charities.[^1]
The Tribune gave a different date for the arrest. It reported that Hancock arrested Norman in March 1973 on charges of contributing to a juvenile's violation of state drug laws, and that Hancock seized more than 30,000 index cards listing clients around the country, some of them prominent people and some federal employees in Washington. Hancock told the paper, "I felt that some federal agency should get the cards and I contacted the [[State Department]] through the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], I think it was." He added, "All the cards were sent to Washington to the State Department, and that's the last I heard of."[^5]
### Connection to Other Networks
A letter from the State Department to Senator [[John C. Culver]], chairman of the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, dated June 27, 1977, gives a Dallas chronology. The department's Los Angeles security office reported in August 1973 that the Dallas police were investigating a ring that used the name "Odyssey Foundation" to supply young males to people responding to its solicitations. On August 23, 1973, the Dallas police asked for passport information about a juvenile travelling in Europe under the foundation's auspices. The department found that the passport had been properly obtained. In September 1973 the Dallas resident agent sent the department material on the foundation's methods, on the understanding that it would not be disseminated outside the department. The letter adds that two individuals in the Dallas card files appeared to have State Department affiliation, that the security files of two employees with similar names were examined, and that no formal investigation followed.[^6]
The Odyssey Network was closely linked to other trafficking operations, including the [[Hermes]] newsletter serving as a conduit for engaging children in pornographic modeling and prostitution, the [[Educational Foundation for Youth]] as an Illinois-based front organization deriving tax-exempt status as a subsidiary of offshore companies, and the North Fox Island operation as a Michigan-based summer camp used as a front for child pornography production.[^2]
Testimony by [[Michael Sneed]] at the Senate subcommittee's Chicago hearing listed Norman's names as Evan Goodwin, Allen Hitchcock and John Shanks, and his organizations as the Odyssey Foundation, the Hasting Foundation and Epic International.[^7] A Homewood, Illinois, police supplementary report dated November 5, 1973, describes an adult who had been recruited by mail into Epic International, a group the report places in Dallas, Texas. Four checks, totaling $662, went to Epic International at a post office box in Dallas.[^8]
### International Reach
Sneed also testified that Dallas police had been "investigating John Norman as a possible solicitor for these boys that were among the 27 boys that were found murdered in Texas." The reference is to the killings carried out by [[Dean Corll]] in Houston, which came to light in 1973 after [[Elmer Wayne Henley]] shot Corll.[^9] The Tribune reported that Dallas police told Sergeant Ronald Kelly of the Chicago police youth division that they had information associating Norman with the ring that helped transport those boys to Texas.[^10]
The network maintained connections with European operations, particularly through [[Francis Shelden]]'s later activities in Amsterdam. Shelden, who fled Michigan to avoid prosecution, later established [[PAN Magazine]] and worked with [[John Stamford]]'s [[Spartacus Network]], effectively creating a European counterpart to the Odyssey Network.[^3]
### Chicago and the Delta Project, 1973 to 1977
### Investigation and Shutdown
Norman moved to [[Homewood, Illinois]] in mid-1973 and lived in the home of one of his Epic International clients. A Homewood offense report, case 20228, opened on October 31, 1973, after an anonymous caller said that a white male of about thirty was performing lewd acts on youths in an apartment in the village. The report dates the offense to October 19, 1973, and names the subject as Steven Gurwell.[^11] A supplementary report dated November 1, 1973, states that the subject was out of state and due back in mid-November.[^12] A supplementary report dated November 5, 1973, states that the department was seeking a warrant for Gurwell's arrest, and a later page of the same report states that the subject left Illinois on October 25, 1973.[^13]
The Tribune gave a different sequence. It reported that Norman, using the alias Steven Gurwell, was arrested in October 1973 after an anonymous tipster said he had lured teenage boys into sex acts with him by giving them beer. Police, the paper said, seized from him a large collection of pornography and a list of 5,000 names and addresses of clients of his various "foundations."[^14]
Norman had been held in [[Cook County Jail]] in 1976 on charges of indecent liberties with ten teenage boys. Police told the Tribune that the Delta Project was born there. The paper reported that Norman used the jail's printing facilities to send three newsletters to clients and to people who answered his advertisements in gay publications. The newsletter gave the project's aim as "to provide educational, travel and self-development opportunities for qualified young men of character and integrity," and described "Delta-Dorms" in which "one of our sustaining members acts as a 'don' for two to four 'cadets.'" It stated that "the nature of the relationship between cadet and sponsor is left entirely to the two of them." In a prison interview Norman told the Tribune that he had corresponded with more than 7,000 people from the jail. "This has nothing to do with sex," he said. "I didn't want to get young kids involved in sex."[^15]
The Tribune reported that the Chicago police Area 6 youth division, tipped to the project the previous February, began an investigation and found that a Chicago post office box used by the Delta Project was registered to Norman and to [[Phillip Paske]]. Paske was described by police as "a convicted murderer and thief" and as Norman's closest associate. Police said he was on probation, had been out of jail since the previous July, and had kept the project going while Norman was in prison.[^16] The Tribune reported that police credited Norman with a record of 13 arrests for sex offenses going back to 1954, and noted that [[Judianne Densen-Gerber]] of New York, who headed a national movement against child abuse, ran an unrelated program called Odyssey Institute.[^16] Norman pleaded guilty in December 1976 to eight counts of indecent liberties with a child and was sentenced to four years. The paper reported that someone in California whom police could not identify had provided the $36,000 cash needed for his bail after he published his first newsletter from the jail.[^17]
On October 19, 1976, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Chicago office recorded in a memorandum (file 166-2548) information from an investigator for the Cook County state's attorney's office, furnished on October 18. The memorandum names Norman, John Shanks and Paske, reports that an investigation indicated "The Delta Project" was a business transporting young males interstate to paying customers for prostitution, and states that some of the customers may be federal employees. It recommends opening a new case.[^18] The same file's serial index lists as item 1 Homewood police reports "concerning Delta Project, John Norman," and as item 2 a [[Hermes]] publication of 1976.[^19] A receipt dated November 1, 1976, describes the Homewood reports as covering October 13, 1973, to May 14, 1974.[^20]
### The 1977 hearings and the Tribune series
The network came under investigation in 1977 following arrests in Chicago that revealed connections to Norman's operation. The investigation uncovered the systematic nature of the trafficking operation, including the use of coded communications and the exploitation of vulnerable children through foster care and juvenile systems.[^1]
The Tribune series appeared in May 1977. The May 16 installment, the second of four parts, was written by Ray Moseley from reporting by Sneed and [[George Bliss]], who had spent three months on the investigation. The House Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary reprinted it in the record of its 1977 hearings, *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12.[^1]
On May 27, 1977, Bliss and Sneed testified before the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency in Chicago. Bliss said the State Department had told the reporters that it "shredded the 35,000 cards in 1974 because they couldn't find any use for them," and that the cards "didn't pertain to their department." Bliss said he thought the department official the reporters had spoken to was William Minitz. He added that another 5,000 cards had been found when Norman was arrested in Homewood.[^21]
The June 27, 1977, State Department letter gives a different account of the cards. It states that on December 12, 1974, the Dallas police turned over to the department "three cartons containing several thousand 3x5 cards" obtained from the Odyssey Foundation in the investigation. The three cartons were sent to Washington on January 2, 1975, and placed in storage. After a Privacy Act review beginning September 27, 1975, the letter says, the cards were "determined not to qualify as records relevant to the Department's statutory purpose and were destroyed."[^22] [[Henry Kissinger]] was Secretary of State when the cartons were handed over and when the cards were destroyed.[^22]
### Paske and the city of Chicago, 1977
The Tribune reported on August 16, 1977, that the city of Chicago had fired Phillip R. Paske, 25, on Monday, August 15, from a job as children's supervisor at a fire department swimming pool, after the paper informed city officials of his background. City records showed he was hired as a summer employee on July 28 and assigned to the fire department gymnasium pool near Navy Pier, at $4.75 an hour under the federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Act. The paper reported that until July 1 Paske and Norman had shared a post office box in both their names, which police said was used to operate the Delta Project, and that Paske had been jailed as the driver of a getaway car in the robbery-killing of a stamp collector, originally charged with murder and later pleading guilty to attempted armed robbery under a plea bargain.[^23]
### The card file
The accounts in the record differ on the number of cards. Hancock's account in the Tribune gives more than 30,000 index cards. Bliss's Senate testimony gives 35,000 cards shredded in 1974. The State Department letter describes three cartons of several thousand cards received in December 1974 and destroyed after the 1975 review. The Tribune quoted [[Matthew Nimetz]], identified as a counselor for the State Department, as saying that officials there had determined "the cards were not relevant to any fraud case concerning a passport" and had therefore destroyed them. Nimetz could not explain to the paper why the department had looked at the cards only as possible passport irregularities, or why it had not passed them to the FBI or to postal inspectors.[^24]
### Front organizations and North Fox Island
A four-month investigation by the [[Traverse City]] Record-Eagle, reprinted in the House volume, reported that Gerald Richards, then serving time in prison for criminal sexual conduct, had confessed that three tax-exempt organizations were fronts for producing homosexual child pornography: the Church of the New Revelation of Kearny, New Jersey, the [[Ocean Living Institute]] and the [[Educational Foundation for Youth]] of Illinois. Richards had been president of [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]], whose nature camp on [[North Fox Island]] was created and operated under the church's auspices. The Record-Eagle reported that the Internal Revenue Service had declared the church and the Educational Foundation for Youth exempt from tax, and had granted the institute the same exemption, without investigating their claims to charitable status. It reported that the foundation was harder to trace. The Illinois Secretary of State's office in Springfield had no record of it, and a clerk in the Chicago office where it was said to be located described it as a non-profit arm of an import-export company incorporated in 1962 and involuntarily dissolved in 1975 for failure to pay franchise taxes.[^25]
The Record-Eagle reported that [[Francis Shelden]], an Ann Arbor millionaire who owned North Fox Island, was charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct with boys and was being sought under a federal flight warrant. Richards had named Shelden as connected with the camp. Authorities in Tennessee and Louisiana had acknowledged that their welfare departments were duped into making payments to support children used for homosexual and pornographic purposes.[^26]
Hermes, according to the Tribune, was a bimonthly newsletter printed in Chicago that contained "line drawings and photographs of naked boys," articles on "boy love," and advertisements listing coded names through which subscribers could contact one another. The paper said police had identified three men as its principal figures. Police said they could take no action against the operation in the absence of an Illinois obscenity law, which a federal court had declared unconstitutional the year before.[^27]
### Shelden, PAN and Amsterdam
The network operated as part of a larger international system for the exploitation of children, coordinating with similar operations across the United States and Europe.[^28] The writer S. Dovey wrote that Shelden fled Michigan to avoid prosecution, went to [[Amsterdam]] and began a newsletter there called [[PAN Magazine]] under the pen name Frank Torey. Dovey wrote that the first edition appeared in 1979 through a publishing house owned by [[John Stamford]], a defrocked Anglican priest who had fled Britain in 1972, and that PAN platformed an organization called [[Spartacus International]]. Dovey wrote that Shelden worked with Stamford's [[Spartacus Network]], which the same writer treated as the European counterpart of the Odyssey Network.[^28]
### Gacy and the Chicago accomplices
The writer S. Dovey wrote that [[John Wayne Gacy]], after his December 1978 arrest, named [[Michael Rossi]] and [[David Cram]] as accomplices who had buried bodies in the crawlspace of his house. Dovey wrote that Gacy then named Phillip Paske as a third accomplice, a child pimp who procured boys for sex, and through Paske named Norman as a fourth. Dovey wrote that Gacy said Cram, Rossi and Paske all had keys to his house. In a recorded conversation later played publicly, Gacy said that "Rossi, Cram, Paske, and Norman were involved in the case."[^29] The Illinois Supreme Court's 1984 opinion on Gacy's appeal records Cram's testimony that Gacy "had him dig trenches in the crawl space, purportedly for drainage purposes," and records Rossi's testimony that he worked for Gacy. The opinion does not mention Norman or Paske.[^30]
### Later court records and arrests
On March 21, 1979, the Illinois Supreme Court denied an original petition for habeas corpus filed by Norman. The order states that Norman claimed he had been misadvised, when he pleaded guilty, that there would be no mandatory parole term after his sentence. The court held that habeas corpus was not available for that claim and denied the petition without prejudice to a post-conviction petition in the trial court.[^31]
A Colorado Bureau of Investigation identification record for Norman, issued April 1, 2020, lists Denver arrests on February 26, 1982, on a commercial sex solicitation charge and a felony charge of commercial sexual exploitation of a child. A Denver police entry dated June 10, 1988, lists second-degree sexual assault and sexual assault on a child, and the record shows Norman received at the Territorial Correctional Facility in Canon City, Colorado, on April 30, 1990, on two counts of sexual assault on a child.[^32]
### Illinois investigation, 1980
The Illinois Legislative Investigating Commission published a report titled *Sexual Exploitation of Children* in 1980. The catalog abstract describes a three-year study of child pornography and child prostitution with an emphasis on Illinois, undertaken at the request of the Illinois House of Representatives, in which investigators operated front enterprises, among them a summer camp.[^33]
### Footnotes
[^1]: 'Chicago is center of national child pornography ring', Chicago Tribune, May 16 1977
[^2]: 'Police say photos link area island, porn ring', Traverse City Record-Eagle, February 16, 1977
[^3]: Francis Shelden & John Stamford network connections, 1976-1996
[^1]: Ray Moseley, with Michael Sneed and George Bliss, "Chicago Is Center of National Child Porno Ring," *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime, *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12 (1977), pp. 433-435. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^2]: "Alleged Homosexual Ring Found in a Raid on Apartment in Dallas," *New York Times*, August 16, 1973, p. 16. https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/16/archives/alleged-homosexual-ring-found-in-a-raid-on-apartment-in-dallass.html
[^3]: Robin Lloyd, *For Money or Love: Boy Prostitution in America* (1976), p. 80. https://archive.org/details/formoneyorlovebo0000lloy
[^4]: Clifford L. Linedecker, *Children in Chains* (New York: Everest House, 1981), pp. 212-213. https://archive.org/details/childreninchains0000line
[^5]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 435. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^6]: Letter from Douglas J. Bennett Jr., Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations, U.S. Department of State, to Sen. John C. Culver, June 27, 1977, reprinted in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, hearings, Chicago, May 27, 1977, and Washington, June 16, 1977, 95th Congress, 1st session, p. 120. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^7]: Testimony of Michael Sneed, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, Chicago, May 27, 1977, p. 53. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^8]: Homewood, Illinois, Police Department, Supplementary Investigation Report, Case No. 20228, dated November 5, 1973, first page. Item "John Norman records from Homewood PD," Internet Archive, 2019. https://archive.org/details/JohnNorman_HomewoodPD
[^9]: Testimony of Michael Sneed, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, Chicago, May 27, 1977, p. 60. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^10]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 434. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^11]: Homewood, Illinois, Police Department, Offense Report, Case No. 20228, "Indecent Liberties with a Child," dated October 31, 1973, reported by anonymous caller. https://archive.org/details/JohnNorman_HomewoodPD
[^12]: Homewood Police Department, Supplementary Investigation Report, Case No. 20228, dated November 1, 1973. https://archive.org/details/JohnNorman_HomewoodPD
[^13]: Homewood Police Department, Supplementary Investigation Report, Case No. 20228, dated November 5, 1973, second page (subject left Illinois October 25, 1973; warrant being sought). https://archive.org/details/JohnNorman_HomewoodPD
[^14]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 434 (arrest in October 1973 under the alias Steven Gurwell; list of 5,000 names and addresses). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^15]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), pp. 433-434 (Delta Project born in Cook County Jail; newsletter text; Norman's statements; 7,000 correspondents). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^16]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 434 (Area 6 youth division; post office box registered to Paske and Norman; Paske on probation and out of jail since the previous July). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^17]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 435 (December 1976 plea and sentence; bail of $36,000). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^18]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, memorandum, SAC Chicago (166-NEW), dated October 19, 1976, subject John David Norman, John Shanks, Phillip Paske, ITAR-Prostitution, file 166-2548, in FOIPA release 1352511-001 (Philip Paske file). https://vault.fbi.gov/philip-paske/philip-paske-part-01
[^19]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, FD-340 serial index, file 166-2548-1A, items 1 and 2, in FOIPA release 1352511-001. https://vault.fbi.gov/philip-paske/philip-paske-part-01
[^20]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, FD-340 receipt, file 166-2548-1A1, date received November 1, 1976, description "Homewood, Ill., PD reports concerning Delta Project & John Norman, 10/13/73 - 5-14-74," in FOIPA release 1352511-001. https://vault.fbi.gov/philip-paske/philip-paske-part-01
[^21]: Testimony of George Bliss and Michael Sneed, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, Chicago, May 27, 1977, p. 58. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^22]: Letter from Douglas J. Bennett Jr. to Sen. John C. Culver, June 27, 1977, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, p. 120 (cartons received by the department January 2, 1975; storage; Privacy Act review from September 27, 1975). https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^23]: "Porno-Ring Suspect Fired by City," *Chicago Tribune*, August 16, 1977, p. 31 (Metropolitan section).
[^24]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 435 (Nimetz statement). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^25]: Traverse City Record-Eagle, "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws," by Marilyn Wright, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977) (clipping undated in the reprint; Richards confession, Church of the New Revelation, Ocean Living Institute, Educational Foundation for Youth, IRS exemptions, Secretary of State search). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^26]: Traverse City Record-Eagle, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977) (undated clipping on the Ann Arbor millionaire who owned North Fox Island; charges, federal flight warrant, welfare payments in Tennessee and Louisiana). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^27]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 435 (Hermes described; coded advertisements; three principal figures); p. 434 (no action absent an Illinois obscenity law). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^28]: S. Dovey, *Eye of the Chickenhawk* (2023), passages on Shelden in Amsterdam, PAN Magazine, the Frank Torey pen name and John Stamford.
[^29]: S. Dovey, *Eye of the Chickenhawk* (2023), passages on Gacy's statements naming Rossi, Cram, Paske and Norman, and on the keys to Gacy's house.
[^30]: *People v. Gacy*, 103 Ill. 2d 1 (1984), Illinois Supreme Court, June 6, 1984, testimony of David Cram (trenches in the crawl space) and Michael Rossi (worked for the defendant). https://static.case.law/ill-2d/103/cases/0001-01.json
[^31]: *Norman v. Elrod*, 76 Ill. 2d 426 (1979), No. 51521, order entered March 21, 1979 (per curiam). https://static.case.law/ill-2d/76/cases/0426-01.json
[^32]: Colorado Bureau of Investigation, identification record for "Norman, John David," issued April 1, 2020, arrest and custody entries for Denver Police Department and Territorial Correctional Facility, Canon City. https://archive.org/details/JohnNorman_CBI
[^33]: Illinois Legislative Investigating Commission, *Sexual Exploitation of Children* (1980), NCJ 72440, National Criminal Justice Reference Service catalog record. https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=72440

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@ -24,9 +24,9 @@ The company's client base spans the agencies that consume intelligence and law-e
### Founding and In-Q-Tel
Palantir was founded in 2003 in the aftermath of the [[September 11 attacks|9/11 attacks]], with Thiel as the founding financier and chairman. The company's stated founding premise was that U.S. intelligence agencies possessed large volumes of data in mutually incompatible silos and lacked the software to fuse it into operational intelligence, a gap the [[9/11 Commission]] had identified. The Central Intelligence Agency venture arm In-Q-Tel provided early funding. Karp, a law-school contemporary of Thiel at [[Stanford Law School]], serves as chief executive and is the public face of the company.[^1][^2]
Palantir was founded in 2003 in the aftermath of the [[September 11 attacks|9/11 attacks]], with Thiel as the founding financier and chairman. The company's stated founding premise was that U.S. intelligence agencies possessed large volumes of data in mutually incompatible silos and lacked the software to fuse it into operational intelligence, a gap the [[9/11 Commission]] had identified. The Central Intelligence Agency venture arm In-Q-Tel provided early funding, two rounds "totaling more than $2 million" according to Forbes, which reported that "from 2005 to 2008 the CIA was Palantir's patron and only customer, alpha-testing and evaluating its software."[^10] Karp, a law-school contemporary of Thiel at [[Stanford Law School]], serves as chief executive and is the public face of the company.[^1][^2]
The founding team included Lonsdale, then a recent [[Stanford University]] graduate who had worked at Thiel's [[Clarium Capital]], as a founding engineer. Cohen and Gettings rounded out the technical cofounding group. The [[PayPal Mafia]] lineage is direct: the fraud-detection heritage is consciously modeled on the anti-fraud data systems Thiel and [[Max Levchin]] built at [[PayPal]]. Palantir's data-fusion architecture for intelligence and law enforcement is an adaptation of the payments-fraud-detection architecture, the basis for the recurring internal claim that the company "does for governments what PayPal did for fraud."[^2]
The founding team included Lonsdale, then a recent [[Stanford University]] graduate who had worked at Thiel's [[Clarium Capital]], as a founding engineer. Cohen and Gettings rounded out the technical cofounding group. The [[PayPal Mafia]] lineage is direct: the fraud-detection heritage is consciously modeled on the anti-fraud data systems Thiel and [[Max Levchin]] built at [[PayPal]]. [[Forbes]] reported in 2013 that Thiel's "concept for Palantir was to use the fraud-recognition software designed for PayPal to stop terrorist attacks," and that where PayPal "had started with perfectly structured and organized information for its fraud analysis," intelligence customers "had mismatched collections of e-mails, recordings and spreadsheets."[^10] Palantir's data-fusion architecture for intelligence and law enforcement is an adaptation of the payments-fraud-detection architecture, the basis for the recurring internal claim that the company "does for governments what PayPal did for fraud."[^2]
### Founding Account in the 2020 Registration Statement
@ -71,3 +71,4 @@ Gotham is marketed on Palantir's own website as supporting soldiers with an "AI-
[^7]: Palantir Technologies Inc. Form S-1, August 25, 2020, "Government," list of departments and agencies currently using the platforms. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1321655/000119312520230013/d904406ds1.htm
[^8]: Palantir Technologies Inc. Form S-1, August 25, 2020, "Management," biography of Peter Thiel. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1321655/000119312520230013/d904406ds1.htm
[^9]: PayPal, Inc. Form S-1 registration statement, filed September 28, 2001, "Business," subsection "Risk Management." https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1103415/000091205701533855/a2059025zs-1.htm
[^10]: Andy Greenberg, "How A 'Deviant' Philosopher Built Palantir, A CIA-Funded Data-Mining Juggernaut," *Forbes*, August 14, 2013. https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/08/14/agent-of-intelligence-how-a-deviant-philosopher-built-palantir-a-cia-funded-data-mining-juggernaut/

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@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ Palantir Technologies Inc.'s registration statement of August 25, 2020 states: "
The filing states that Thiel "is one of our co-founders and has served as the Chairman of our Board of Directors since 2003," and that he has been a partner of Founders Fund since 2005. Its biography of Thiel records that he "co-founded PayPal, Inc., an online payment company, where he served as Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chairman of its board of directors from 2000 until its acquisition by eBay in 2002."[^30]
The filing lists government users including the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, [[U.S. Special Operations Command]], the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]], the Department of Agriculture, the [[Department of Homeland Security]], the Department of Veterans Affairs and the [[Food and Drug Administration]].[^29] The PayPal name appears in the Palantir filing only in Thiel's biography.
The filing lists government users including the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, [[U.S. Special Operations Command]], the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]], the Department of Agriculture, the [[Department of Homeland Security]], the Department of Veterans Affairs and the [[Food and Drug Administration]].[^29] The PayPal name appears in the Palantir filing only in Thiel's biography. [[Forbes]] reported in 2013 that Thiel's "concept for Palantir was to use the fraud-recognition software designed for PayPal to stop terrorist attacks," that the CIA's venture arm [[In-Q-Tel]] made two rounds of investment "totaling more than $2 million," and that "from 2005 to 2008 the CIA was Palantir's patron and only customer."[^44]
### Sanctions screening and OFAC
@ -220,3 +220,4 @@ In June 2021 [[Access Now]] published a letter asking PayPal and [[Venmo]] to pu
[^41]: New York State Department of Financial Services, enforcement actions listing, "Consent Order Issued to PayPal, Inc.," January 23, 2025. https://www.dfs.ny.gov/industry-guidance/enforcement-discipline/ea20250123-paypal-inc
[^42]: Cameron, Dell, and Yulia Almazova. "Leak Exposes Members of Peter Thiel's Secretive 'Dialog' Society." WIRED, June 16, 2026. https://www.wired.com/story/leak-exposes-members-of-peter-thiels-secretive-dialog-society/
[^43]: Access Now, "It's time for PayPal and Venmo to come clean on account closure policies," published June 28, 2021, last updated January 26, 2023 (call for annual transparency reports covering requests to surveil, limit, investigate or shut down accounts). https://www.accessnow.org/its-time-for-paypal-and-venmo-to-come-clean-on-account-closure-policies-center-human-rights/
[^44]: Andy Greenberg, "How A 'Deviant' Philosopher Built Palantir, A CIA-Funded Data-Mining Juggernaut," *Forbes*, August 14, 2013. https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/08/14/agent-of-intelligence-how-a-deviant-philosopher-built-palantir-a-cia-funded-data-mining-juggernaut/